Who will steal the greatest prize of Empire? South America's Spanish colonies are in a ferment of popular unrest. Rumors of a treasure hoard of Spanish silver spur Thomas Kydd's commander-in-chief, Commodore Popham, to assemble a makeshift invasion fleet and launch a bold attack on Buenos Aires. The British invasion force wins a battle against improbable odds, but soon finds itself surrounded by a hostile population. Now Kydd's men must face resistance...

Thomas Kydd, a hero of Trafalgar, holds the glory of being Post-Captain of the 32-gun frigate, L'Aurore. A Caribbean posting seems a welcome respite for the war hero, but when more and more merchantmen begin vanishing from the sea, fear starts to spread. Kydd must embark on a dangerous game of espionage in order to destroy this new and terrible danger to the Empire.

1809. After his heroic actions during the retreat to Corunna, Captain Sir Thomas Kydd is the toast of London society. Here he falls in with the legendary frigate captain, Lord Thomas Cochrane. So begins a relationship, professional and personal, that will be unlike any that Kydd has known: a relationship that will lead him, almost simultaneously, to first glory, then ruin. The French fleet is massing in the Basque Roads in a near impregnatable position....