1856. Azimullah Khan, a charismatic Pathan, moves through London society, eliciting support for his patron the Nana Sahib's claim to be restored as Peshwar of the Maharatha Confederacy. Charlie Bosham (see A VERY ENGLISH AGENT and BIRTH OF A NATION) is recruited by the British government to spy on him. Charlie, never one to allow loyalty to stand between him and his own welfare, soon becomes involved in the Nana's plot to recover his inheritance. Back in Delhi the conspirators, including the glamorous, young but doomed Maharanee of Jhansi and the old King of Delhi, the last survivor of the Mughal dynasty, foment the mutiny in the native regiments of the East India Company. The focus now shifts to a lieutenant in the Gordon Highlanders, his pursuit of an Indian Princess with whom he is in love, and to her brother who has fallen for the Anglo-Indian daughter of a British colonel. Through their eyes we experience the outbreak at Meerut, the sieges of Delhi, Cawnpore and Lucknow, the massacres and extraordinary heroism on both sides, and the star-crossed love affairs of the principal characters.