During the Napoleonic wars, British naval captain Jack Aubrey, charged with capturing the French islands of Reunion and Mauritius, must first cope with his fellow commanders.

Aubrey's life on land sours until a fresh conflict--Napoleon's escape from Elba--takes him back to sea.

With rations running dangerously low, Captain Hornblower fears that the lure of the South Sea islands may entice the crew to mutiny.

Follow the trail of Dominique Dawson, a reluctant spy who is forced to betray England or never see her brother again. As she takes a position as the governess of a Rear Admiral's son, her real mission is to gather intelligence information for Napoleon. Chase Randal, irresistibly drawn to his son's new governess, reluctantly allows the attraction to grow. Is there a future for the spy and the rear admiral? Or will Dominique's deception crush any prospect...

Alternating chapters follow the mysterious connection between a homesick English girl living in present-day America and an eleven-year-old boy serving in the British Royal Navy in 1803, aboard the H.M.S. Victory, commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson.

Presents the unfinished manuscript of Forester's historical adventure in which Hornblower, on the verge of securing his first post as captain, finds himself fighting alongside a man whom he has unintentionally helped to court-martial; and includes the author's notes regarding the novel's conclusion, as well as two additional Hornblower stories.

It is 1812, and Hornblower has been given sole responsibility for protecting the Baltic trade and stopping the spread of Napoleon's empire into Sweden and Russia. His instructions are to sacrifice every man and his ship rather than surrender.