1959, in an idyllic south-eastern Asian British protectorate, in which security has been provided for 150 years by British soldiers in accordance with a treaty claiming to be perpetual. But for cost-cutting reasons, Westminster decides to tear up the treaty and to withdraw the troops, just as a Malaya-style Marxist insurgency develops. The incoming military commander is confronted by a range of problems, military, political, social, diplomatic, moral and romantic. The author's deep first-hand knowledge of the setting provides an authentic background, particularly of the thrilling military climax.