As Captain James Ogilvie led B Company of the Queen's Own Royal Strathspeys through the thronged streets of London on the diamond jubilee of the Queen Empress, he knew it was a day he would always remember with pride. But far away on the north-west frontier of India, trouble did not pause for the celebrations of the Raj. The Rajah of Drosh had rebelled, resulting in heavy battalion losses, and Ogilvie was going to have to return to India with a larger than usual draft of raw recruits from the regimental depot at Invermore. To make matters worse, the irascible and intemperate Major Lord Brora had gone AWOL and had been sighted consorting with the rebel Rajah. Ogilvie is once again seconded into Political Service in order to find out more, while his regiment marches on to the walled town of Drosh - with horrendous consequences