London, 1759. After a high-society electric-eel party leads to a duel that ends badly, Lord John Grey feels the need to lie low for a while. Conveniently, before starting his new commission in His Majesty's army, Lord John receives an urgent summons. An old friend from the military, Charlie Carruthers, is facing court-martial in Canada, and has called upon Lord John to serve as his character witness.

Grey voyages to the New World - a land rife with savages (many of them on his own side) and cleft by war - where he soon finds that he must defend not only his friend's life but his own.