In this, the long awaited conclusion of Alexander Kent's Midshipman Trilogy (following Richard Bolitho, Midshipman and Midshipman Bolitho and the "Avenger"), the new year of 1774 seems to offer Richard Bolitho and his friend Martyn Dancer the culmination of a dream. Both have been recommended for promotion, although they have not yet gained the coveted lieutenant's commission.

But a routine passage from Plymouth to Guernsey in an untried schooner becomes, for Bolitho, a passage from midshipman to King's officer, tempering the promise of the future with the bitter price of maturity.