The Prime Minister is resisting growing calls for parliamentary reform, provoking scenes of violent unrest. Against this inflammable backdrop Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey, recently returned from an assignment in the Balkans, takes command of his regiment, the 6th Light Dragoons. His fears that things might be dull are quickly dispelled by the business of vexatious officers, difficult choices over which NCOs to promote, not to mention the incendiarists on the doorstep of the King himself.