The trumpet-major, John Loveday, a soldier in the war with Buonaparte, and Robert his brother, first mate in the merchant service

Set against a backdrop of the Napoleonic wars, this is a novel about a young woman and the three very different suitors who vie for her hand. Two of the men are brothers involved in the fighting, one an easygoing sailor, the other an honest and diffident trumpet major, the third suitor being the cowardly son of the local squire.