It is 1798, and Europe is taking a breath after the War of the First Coalition. For Jeanette, this is the time for happiness. She is a cantiniére of the French 5th Company of the 4th Light Demi-Brigade, and a soldier, finally free of the filth of the revolutionary Paris and her past. By extorting the scheming Director Paul Barras of the French Republic, she is also free of her treacherous cousin Gilbert Baxa, the servant of the Directory. She has a home in the army and she is in love with colonel Henri d'Montepello. Yet, such happiness is as volatile as the Revolutionary France itself and times are changing. France is facing new challenges and Director Barras is making bold moves to remove troublesome, loose ends of his past as well as generals who have grown too powerful and independent. The Republic does not tolerate soldiers who think too deeply and so Jeanette is once more facing Gilbert Baxa and the schemes of the Directory. She finds herself far from home in the sandy, ruthless war of Egypt, as the Army of Orient fights first to conquer the Mamelukes, then to survive. Will Jeanette overcome Gilbert's ruses as she struggles to save herself and young Napoleon Bonaparte, a general forever changed by his trials in Egypt?