Captain Nathaniel Perry has survived the Battle of Waterloo with some slight distinction, and finds himself respected in his fashionable mess on the regiment's return to England. That is a problem, for he has no private income. He had managed well enough on his pay on campaign, but could not do so in the Peace.

Simultaneously with his promotion to major in acknowledgement of his actions at the Battle, he is called to London at the behest of a dying grandfather, a merchant who had disowned him, disapproving of his mother's marriage. Perry discovers he is the sole surviving heir . . . and rich.

Selling out of the Army and settling in London, he is soon noticed and his name remarked upon. He is then discovered by the paternal side, who do not dislike his money, but had disowned his father upon his unfortunate marriage.

Belonging neither to one class or the other, Nathaniel has to make a new life for himself.