India 1895: James Ogilvy, subaltern with the 114th Highlanders, the Queen's own Royal Strathspeys, is stationed on the Northwest Frontier, where the ceremony, the sadism, the absurdity, and the magnificence of life in the service of the Queen Empress are ever in uneasy juxtaposition. He witnesses both the grim results of a disastrous patrol and the formally prescribed social world of Simla, where his friendship with Major Archdale's beautiful young wife causes another kind of stir. Now an unexpected recruit could make all the difference between defeat and victory, and only James can make the decision to use this means to success..