It's July 1879 and Lieutenant Simon Fonthill is preparing to leave South Africa with his servant '352' Jenkins. Disillusioned with the British army after fighting in the Zulu wars, they are both determined to resign their commissions. However, Fonthill's talents as a soldier have not gone unnoticed and Colonel Lamb, in charge of intelligence, persuades him to join his next operation. And so Fonthill finds himself on his way to Afghanistan, where trouble is brewing for the small British force stationed there. Commanded by General Roberts, they are under orders to protect the British mission in the capital, Kabul, and desperately need reliable intelligence of any imminent attack. Thus Fonthill is sent on a difficult and dangerous mission deep into the Afghan mountains to gain information, the threat of capture and torture by the local tribes constantly hanging over him. Will Fonthill survive and break through to warn Roberts of the united force that is set to rise up against him? Or is it his fate to perish in the mountains at the hands of a brutal enemy?