It continues his saga of the Savage family, who are part of the British Raj in India, and is set against the backdrop of the Great Game, the period of tension between Britain and Russia in Central Asia during the late nineteenth century.

Anne is the daughter of a Commissariat officer and is travelling with her parents to the military post at Peshawar in the North-West Frontier Province of India.

Life threatens to be awkward, but an acquaintance, Major Hayling, connects the murder witnessed by Anne with a souvenir collected by Robin in Afghanistan, a jezail with the words "atlar shimal" (horses, north) engraved on it.

Realising that Robin's true passion is for solitude and empty spaces, Hayling recruits him into the Secret Service and sends him in disguise into Central Asia.

Accompanied by a faithful Gurkha orderly, Robin sets out to discover the motive behind the murder and determine whether it is connected with the ambitions of Tsarist Russia.