After nearly losing the Leopard to the ocean, Captain Jack Aubrey, RN, and his diminished crew sail into harbor in the Dutch East Indies. There Aubrey finds himself appointed to the command of the fastest and best-armed frigate in the Royal Navy, but not before some forceful arguing with Admiral Drury. Aubrey and his friend Stephen Maturin take passage for England in a dispatch vessel, but the War of 1812 breaks out while they are en route. Bloody actions precipitate them both into new and unexpected scenes where Stephen's past activities as a secret agent return on him with a vengeance.