When the beautiful young Lady Orissa Fane is thrown out into the cold night by her hateful drunken stepmother, she flees to her brother Charles's barracks for his help and encounters a stern Major Meredith who clearly disapproves of her wayward brother.
At Charles's suggestion she travels incognito to Delhi under the name of Mrs. Lane to ask for the support of her dear Uncle Henry, who is the Colonel in charge of his Regiment and on the ship she agrees to look after the grandchild of General Sir Arthur Critchley.
Incredibly, the very same Major Meredith is on the same ship – and after a series of awkward misunderstandings an intense mutual dislike develops between them, so Orissa is glad to be free of him when they disembark at Delhi.
She is thrilled to be back in India where she was brought up and relishes again everything that she has remembered and loved about the country.
But to her dismay her Uncle Henry has left for a Fort on the North-West Frontier where he is battling against hostile tribes and their sinister backers, the Russians.
So, enlisting the protection of a noble Sikh Sergeant-Major, she bravely sets off to join him.
Little does she know what Fate holds in store for her along the way – terrible death-defying danger, another encounter with the hated Major Meredith and, if she lives long enough, love –