In March 1916 in the icy mud that separated the trenches, several British soldiers raided the nearby German forces; two failed to return with one dead, but the other Tucky Nann apparently is alive. Protestant chaplain Captain Joseph Reavley finds the badly injured Tucky andmoves him to bring him safely to his side. However, before he can make it, a shell exploded nearby sending Joseph into severe pain and immediately thereafter unconsciousness.

He awakens with a horrendous headache and other pain as Surgeon Cavan explains he has a broken arm, a badly injured leg and lost plenty of blood. He is sent to his Cambridgeshire hometown for surgery and recuperation. However, rest is not what Joseph will find as he soon becomes embroiled in trying to stop the diabolically clever plot of the Peacemaker to forge an Anglo-German Empire that would dominate the world for centuries.