Ten years after ratting on his old mobster friends in exchange for personal immunity, two hit men drive a hardened criminal to Paris for his execution. However, while on the way, whatever can go wrong, does go wrong.

During the Peninsular War in Spain against the French, Sergeant Richard Sharpe saves the life of Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington and is promoted to Lieutenant. In order to pay the troops Wellesley needs a money draft from the banker Rothschild, but fears he has been captured by the French and sends Sharpe behind enemy lines to find him. Sharpe is given command of a platoon of crack riflemen, led by the surly Irishman Harper and including Hagman and Harris, who resent Sharpe as not being a 'proper officer'.

Sharpe is a Captain saddled with the South Essex, a battalion run by incompetents and filled with soldiers who have never been in battle. When the South Essex loses its colours (its regimental flag), Sharpe vows to save the honor of the regiment by capturing a French Imperial standard: an eagle.

Sharpe is sent on a mission to exchange rifles for deserters with a strange band of Spanish guerillas. He also has to chaperone two women looking for their missing husband.

Nina and Laura are a couple whose four year-old son Mateo has just died. Laura moves back to Chile seeking the comfort of her family while Nina, intending to reunite with her shortly, is left to tie up loose ends at home: storing Mateo's things and renting out their house. 'What a big space such a little body can fill, what a massive abyss there is now between your mom and me'.