Edmond Genet, the French ambassador, is attempting to forge an alliance of 'free nations' against the reactionary monarchs of the Old Order. American society is divided. Sir Thomas Challoner, the British spymaster, arrives and volunteers Keene's services to the pro-British faction. Keene complies, infiltrating the Jacobin clubs that Genet is setting up.
Escaping with his life proves, yet again, to be no mean feat for Keene, especially when he finds himself caught up in the volatile repercussions of the French abolition of slavery and the British attack on France's West Indian colonies.