On holiday, ashore with his new wife at a chateau in France, Captain Lord Ramage finds the honeymoon interrupted by an end to the Peace of Amiens — and a return to war which will last over a decade. Finding themselves on unfriendly soil just hours before hostilities commence, Ramage and Sarah elude the grasp of Napoleon's secret police, seeking to close upon all the Brits and French Royalists they can find. Even as they escape, their host is captured and deported to the notorious penal colony on Devil's Island. Ultimately, back at the helm of the Calypso and among old friends, Ramage finds himself heading in the same direction. But given the Island's impregnable reputation, can he pull off a rescue?