The book begins with covering Dyer's parents' lives in British India and their brewery company and then moves on to Dyer's early life, from his time as a day boy at Bishop Cotton school in India. The book then covers Dyer's life while he attended Midleton college in County Cork Ireland and his time at Sandhurst, and then moves on to cover Dyer's life following his graduation from Sandhurst to his postings to the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) in Cork to their deployment to Belfast during the 1886 Belfast riots and then his service during the Third Burmese War. It then covers Dyer's return to India and being reunited with his family in Shimla and Dyer's studies in the learning Urdu, which was an exam he needed to pass to further his career and his postings to the 39th Garhwal Rifles and the 29th Punjabis to his return to England and the birth of his second child.