In the summer of 1769, the citizens of Louisiane wait the arrival of the new governor general of Louisiane with apprehension. The colony has been transferred from French to Spanish rule, but unwilling Creoles rebel against Spanish authority, expelling the first governor general. King Carlos responds by sending his leading general Alejandro O'Reilly, an Irishman, to put down the rebellion and administer the king's justice. Alejandro leads the colony forward into the Spanish empire while establishing contact with the English and Americans from the expanding thirteen colonies along the eastern seaboard. This novel provides a sense of the times as the reader is exposed to cultural, social and political clashes existent in the new world of North America.