Commander Kydd has dragged himself up in the navy from press-ganged seaman to master of his own ship. Now he faces disgrace. After offending an Admiral, and suffering terrible personal tragedy, Kydd is sent to guard the Channel Islands. His career in tatters, he then makes a terrible enemy on his own side. When he is brutally betrayed off the Normandy Coast and forced out of the Service, only his old friend Renzi is willing to stick by him. Then Kydd is given an extraordinary opportunity to salvage his fortunes and return to the sea as captain of a privateer. But privateers are hated by the French and the Royal Navy alike. To keep fighting his country's battle and win back the glory taken from him, he must prowl the Atlantic. A lone wolf of the seas, he and his men are prepared to risk everything to capture the wealthy French traders and heavily-armed fighting ships returning to Bonaparte.