As commander-in-chief of His Majesty's ships and vessels in the West Indies, Admiral Hornblower faces pirates, revolutionaries, and a blistering hurricane in the chaotic aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.
Captain Hornblower has been ordered to find a water route across the Central American isthmus and destroy a fifty-gun Spanish ship, but Hornblower finds himself distracted by his newest passenger, the beautiful Lady Barbara Wellesley.
After only one night with his bride, Hornblower, as commander of the frigate Hotspur, sails for duty off the French Coast to keep Napoleon from invading England.
Horatio Hornblower returns to sea with the rank of Commodore in command of a small squadron during the Napoleonic wars. The fate of Europe hangs on the outcome of his mission.
