A long-forgotten promise made by Richard Hannay finds him honour-bound to resolve a violent vendetta in which the lives of a young father and his daughter are in danger from unscrupulous and desperate men. Hannay sets out on a high-octane chase from the rural tranquillity of his English manor to the Scottish Borders and, ultimately, to Scandinavia.

On the remote Island of Sheep, a final confrontation takes place and everything is decided - once and for all. This, the last of the Hannay adventures - and the last of Buchan's novels to be published during his lifetime - is a rare gem of high drama interwoven with Buchan's personal beliefs about the problems of a post-war world.