This is the story of a fateful week in the life of a young officer in the Irish army, stationed in the Curragh Camp in 1951. Along with several other duties, 2nd Lieutenant Jack Muldoon is asked to defend a young deserter at a Court Martial. Muldoon's enthusiasm for the more leisurely pursuits in the life of an officer get in the way, however, and his youth and inexperience lead to some comic, and ultimately tragic results. All the events in the book actually happened, if not quite in the context and sequence given in this story.