The reflections of an old man late in the Victorian era lead back to before he was born. Thomas Spencer, Admiral's Steward, has first sight of Mary Hever, his future wife, on the Bay of Naples in December 1798, just as Lord Nelson is about to evacuate the Neapolitan royal family to Palermo. The dire sea voyage is followed not just by a developing relationship between Thomas and Mary, but also between Nelson and Emma, Lady Hamilton, while elderly Sir William Hamilton is ill. Over the ensuing year, Thomas's devotion to his duty with Nelson results in Mary and himself becoming dupes of Emma and Nelson in a deception so scandalous it would have brought ruin on Nelson and the Hamiltons had it been discovered. When those famous three quit the Mediterranean in 1800, Thomas and Mary have to take the infant Horatio William Spencer back to England as their own. The growing child is deceived even as to the year of his birth and the death in battle of Nelson means plans for his future must change.