It's 1814, and Napoleon is hard-pressed to defend France from a combination of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Britain. Nor is he the only one in a quandary.

Matthew Hervey, a young British cornet, is in a rather unusual situation. As far as he knows, it's highly irregular to be arrested on a battlefield after a successful action. Still, it's hardly the first time politics has interrupted war, and as Hervey's career progresses, he increasingly balances both, sometimes more successfully than others!