Will Sterling was no more than a teenager when he was tricked into enrolling in The Royal Navy in 1849. Finding he had little aptitude as a sailor, he was transferred to The Royal Marine Infantry, guarding a forgotten garrison on the Island of Saint Helena. There, he came across an old school adversary who, due to his family's social position and wealth, had purchased a commission in the Grenadier Guards. The officer quickly decided that he is in need of a soldier-servant - and so begins a string of misadventures, the bullish officer dragging Will, now his reluctant orderly, into ever deeper trouble as he blunders through a military career based on blatant exaggeration and lies.