Sharpe returns to England and is ordered to the North where he is to command the local militia in a troubled town. It is here that Sharpe faces an agonizing decision - whether to side with the town's corrupt gentry or to support his own kind, the rough and tough of the world who are abused by their superiors.

A year after the battle of Waterloo, dispatchers from India warn that a local Maharaja is threatening British interests. Wellington sends Sharpe to investigate what turns out to be his most dangerous mission to date. Shot entirely on location in India.