Celia Sandys begins her pursuit of the enigmatic private life of Winston Churchill at Sandhurst Military Academy, which he left in 1894 and began a journey in search of adventure and danger to gain the adulation he craved. After a brief visit to New York, Sandys visits the battlefields of the Cuban uprising of 1895, where Churchill nearly died, and South Africa, where, after an amazing tale of capture and escape, he finally found the fame that brought him public acclaim.