Portsmouth, 1782. His Britannic Majesty's frigate Phalarope is ordered to the assistance of tne hard-pressed squadrons in the Caribbean. Aboard is her new commander - Richard Bolitho.

To all appearances the The Phalarope is everything a young captain could wish for. But beneath the surface she is a deeply unhappy ship - her wardroom torn by petty greed and ambition, her deckhands suspected of cowardice under fire and driven to near-mutiny by senseless ill-treatment.

As the little frigate sails under the blazing sun and fights her inner battles as well as the bloody broadsides of the enemy, Bolitho spares neither himself nor his men - and in the final great battle of the Saintes the chance comes to prove what both he and the Phalarope can achieve.