A hundred years after they first came under Julius Caesar, the Roman legions again set foot on Britannia. Caudacus Commenticius and his fellow legionaries of the Second Augusta spearhead the invasion launched by the Emperor Claudius. All goes well at first, and a series of military victories soon subdues the islanders. Despite his defeat, the enemy chieftain Caratacus escapes the invaders and flees to the west. Then the bitter winter sets in. Money and supplies become short. Though promised an early return to Rome, the legions are not brought home. The following spring, the Second Augusta is sent west in search of Caratacus. The dwindling survivors of the legion, ceaselessly harried in a hostile land, realise that, to stay alive, they must learn to adapt to the people and the place. Back in Rome, Claudius is kept as ignorant of conditions in the new province as of the truth of his own weakening hold on power. His senior civil servants and the Empress herself begin to vie with each...