Viscount Bullivant has a peculiar notion of a family holiday—spectating at the Crimean War. But when the influential viscount and his family become prisoners of the Russian secret police, Killigrew, who has more important things to worry about, is ordered to rescue them. Soon they are being pursued by the Russian ship Atalanta; and in her dashing Captain Pechorin, Killigrew may finally have met his match.