India, 1803: Four years since Richard Sharpe earned his sergeant's stripes at the siege of Seringapatam, he witnesses a murderous act of treachery by an English officer who has defected to the mercenaries. Sharpe is ordered to join the hunt for the renegade Englishman, a hunt which ends at the village of Assaye, where the British find themselves outnumbered and outgunned by the Mahratta horde, in a fight for their lives...