60th year AD. Britain is in turmoil. Rebel leader Boudicca tastes victory over a band of hardened veterans at Camulodunum.

Warned of the rapidly spreading rebellion, Governor Suetonius leads his army towards the threatened Londinium with a mounted escort led by Prefect Cato. It soon becomes horrifyingly clear that the province of Britannia is descending into chaos and panic, and Boudicca's ranks are swelled with more and more British warriors. Both Cato and Suetonius are bitterly aware that too little has been done to prepare to face a full-scale uprising. Disappointing news arrives from Londinium. Centurion Macro is among the missing after the massacre at Camulodunum. Has Cato's comrade and friend made his final stand? Facing disaster, Cato prepares his next step. Does he dare hope that Macron - battle-scarred but not broken - will escape from the bloodthirsty rebels? After all, there is only one person in whom Cato can completely trust during the most important military campaign of his life. And the future of the Empire in Britain hangs in the balance...