War with Maori rebels is once more in the air in 1880s New Zealand. Sergeant Frank Hardy is training volunteers in Palmerston North but is more worried about keeping his wife , Mette, safe and keeping himself out of debt. When he is given the opportunity to take a stallion from a stable up near the front he accepts. But someone wants the horse, and is willing to kill to get it back. When Mette disappears and a body turns up in a ditch beside his own pony trap, Frank must follow in Mette's footsteps to rescue her from a terrible fate.