When Captain Alvaro Tillford is chosen for a covert mission, delivering £50,000 of gold to the colony of Georgia, he has no idea the "secret agent" he is supposed to be meeting is his best friend's brother-in-law - or that he has just been hanged for treason against the Crown.

Now the British Authorities in Georgia are after Alvaro's family in earnest; the Naval Authorities in Jamaica are after Alvaro's skin for the mission failure; and Alvaro is after the men who set him up.

With the aid of his new friend, the brilliant Lord Hawthorne, Alvaro sets out to expose a treasonous smuggling ring with links all the way to the highest authorities in London.

Can Alvaro protect his family and clear his name, or is he doomed to live with besmirched honour, as a lowly colonial captain?