Bryan Hawkins has managed to become an experienced seaman by just eighteen years of age, so when his ship is taken by privateers and his captain and crew taken hostage by the French, his captain entrusts him to deliver a message to the nearest British governor in the hope of a prisoner exchange.Message delivered, Bryan is released from his duty and falls in with the local rangers, fighting skirmishes against the French and the Indians who are loyal to them. As he grows in experience and the fighting grows in ferocity, survival and the hope of a happy future are in the balance. Set against the backdrop of the French and Indian War (part of the Seven Years War), this tale of a young man becoming a seasoned soldier tracks through some of the actual battles and struggles of the period.