Bill Walker is a staff sergeant in the Royal Military Police, a Redcap. After a patrol turns deadly, Walker, trying to sort out how his team could possibly have been ambushed, discovers that his commanding officer, Major Steadman, may be a little ... well, unbalanced. At its heart, Callison's novel dramatizes a protracted duel between Walker, a good man, and Steadman, a sadistic psychopath. Spanning a decade (late 1950s to late 1960s), the story is epic in scale.