It is the year 1805. Louis de Laval, the son of a French aristocrat who moved to England right after the Revolution, receives a letter from his uncle advising him to return to his homeland and enter the service of Emperor Napoleon. Landing illegally on the French shore, de Laval suddenly finds himself drawn into a plot against the monarch and understands that his uncle is connected to him with some secret plans.
The novel is appended to the cycle about the commander Gerard (Gerard appears as a secondary character).