Derby Martel Cabernet (b. 1920) is the fourth generation of the illustrious and aristocratic Cabernet dynasty. The youngest child of his generation, Derby was an adventurous adolescent who rather spent his summers in the Canadian outback than becoming an industrialist like his father. The call to adventure finds Derby in 1939 when war breaks out in Europe, enlisting himself for the experience of a lifetime. Now, more than fifteen years later since the end of the war, Derby Cabernet is a cynical and grizzled man in early retirement in East Anglia with his wife and grandson. He puts his servitude towards historical research and expeditions to maintain a sense of use to the world as he publishes his academic contributions on European and Near East studies. The call to adventure finds Derby once more as he is enlisted due to his expert knowledge in expeditionary work to hunt a team led by a German war criminal, a former Waffen-SS officer who escaped his justice at the end of the war. A conflicted Derby finds himself at use to the Allied powers once again to hunt this man down.