Thomas Cochrane spent the Napoleonic Wars pulling off raids that read like fiction: single-handedly harassing French fleets along the Spanish coast, faking signal flags to bluff enemy ships into surrender, and cramming more prize money and prisoners into a career than most admirals managed with entire squadrons behind them. The film traces his rise through the Royal Navy, his reputation as a fearless and reckless commander, and the political enemies he made as a radical Member of Parliament who exposed corruption in the fleet. Convicted in a stock-exchange fraud scandal that many historians still consider a setup, he was stripped of rank and honor, only to rebuild his legend commanding the rebel navies of Chile, Brazil, and Greece in their wars for independence. Paintings, maps, and period illustrations carry the narration through each campaign, laying out why novelists like Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forester borrowed so heavily from his exploits. The result is a portrait of a man Britain's own navy could not decide whether to celebrate or lock up.