When Rotherton is terrorized by a smuggling gang, impoverished baron Tristan Leonard organizes a militia and trains them to fight back. Diana Villiers' wealthy father is murdered when he refuses to allow a London crime boss to marry her, and Diana flees to Rotherton under an assumed name, where she meets Tristan. The killers track Diana to the village. Joining forces with the smuggling gang run by the same crime boss, they plan to destroy the village as a warning to others. The frightened villagers gather in St. Bartholomew's Church. Can Tristan and his militia defend them, defeat the gang, and keep Diana safe from the men hunting her? Or will they both lose everything to the forces ranged against them?