Sharpe returns to England and is ordered to the North where he is to command the local militia in a troubled town. It is here that Sharpe faces an agonizing decision - whether to side with the town's corrupt gentry or to support his own kind, the rough and tough of the world who are abused by their superiors.

British officer Richard Sharpe is given the task of preparing the hitherto purely ceremonial Royal Irish Company for real battle. The commander's ambitious wife and false rumors of a massacre in Ireland complicate the job.

When the incompetent Sir Henry Simmerson (Cochrane) loses most of his men and his regimental flag during battle, Sharpe (Bean), spurred by the memory of a friend who was recently killed sets out for revenge. He is determined to capture the French mascot, a carved golden eagle which is carried into combat. Sharpe is also looking to a settle a personal score with two arrogant officers who have angered him at their mistreatment of the elegant widow Josefina...

Hunting for lost Aztec gold, Sharpe runs afoul of a local partisan leader (Folk); Wellington's cousin Bess (Linehan), searching for her lost gold-prospecting husband, shows up with her daughter (Ashbourne) and gets mixed up in the mess.