1845, a village outside Sydney Town: humble blacksmith Ian Steele struggles to support his widowed mother. All the while he dreams of a life in uniform, serving in Queen Victoria's army. 1845, Puketutu, New Zealand: Second Lieutenant Samuel Forbes, a young poet from an aristocratic English family, wants nothing more than to discard the officer's uniform he never sought. When the two men cross paths in the colony of New South Wales, they are struck by their brotherly resemblance and quickly hatch a plan for Ian to take Samuel's place in the British army. Ian must travel to England, fool the treacherous Forbes family, and accept a commission into their regiment as a company commander in the bloody Crimean war—but he will soon learn that there are even deadlier enemies close to home.