The Lotus and the Wind opens in 1879, when Lieutenant Robin Savage is serving in the second Anglo-Afghan war as Britain and the Russian Empire engage in the Great Game to decide Afghanistan's future. Unjustly accused of cowardice, Lieutenant Savage joins the Secret Service and must unravel the mystery of "Atlar", the word written by an Afghan stranger in his own blood to thwart the ambitions of Tsarist Russia. He sets out with a faithful Gurkha orderly to the furthest frontier of the British Empire.