In a post-apocalyptic Britain, the Bowles family estate is a place where some of the knowledge lost by the collapse of the entire planetary economy has been recovered. Success attracts raiders who want to take the produce of a substantial estate.

Then a successful raid on the Bowles's solar power plant leads to the Bowles family militia heading to the raiders' home base. There they are ambushed by an army and most are killed. The killers turn out to be a heavily armed band called the New English Army led by a self-proclaimed general who declares that he wants to unite the fiefdoms of the country into a reunited England.

After seizing the Bowles's estate, the army is lured into a trap and Hill and the leaders of the army are killed. The estate is entirely retaken, and the protagonist is left to live happily ever after.

Post-apocalyptic novels are a well-established genre, and this novel certainly fits into it. However, the story is pedestrian,, its conclusion obvious, and its characters are little more than stereotypes. The protagonist is a classic hero whose abilities are particularly products of a high degree of capability.. The conclusion is inevitable, and the triumph benefits the protagonist greatly.

This is not a well-written novel. The author tries to create a context by the use of "scholarly" material both in a preface and an afterword. While this ensures that there are no extensive infodumps, it seems rather mechanical, even though it shows how the author wants the novel to be read. It really shouldn't be.