Jack Vincent and his girlfriend Emma return to England to help British Government Scientists to understand what they had learned by travelling back in time. The cause is known but not understood. It was due to a wartime experiment that failed. They are asked to go back again at the next opportunity to try to recover material from the ship that disappeared.
Once again, Jacaranda returns to the past but is almost wrecked in a hurricane and due to a miscalculation, arrives off Guadeloupe in 1794 at the height of the Reign of Terror, which has just arrived in the Caribbean. Rescued by their old friend Charles the Earl of Hinchfield, they become caught up in events as Guadeloupe falls to the French.Paul Smythe has survived the volcano eruption in Martinique but has no memory of his previous life. He marries and settles down as a sugar plantation owner only to become a reluctant double agent for the British. His wife, Francine, is taken hostage by the French to guarantee his behaviour, just as he is reunited with his old friends from the future.Paul helps them thwart the French attempt to retake Martinique and this gives them the opportunity to attempt to rescue his wife.
The story is based on the true events of 1794 when the Guillotine was brought to the Caribbean to support the revolution.