 In 1809, Sir Arthur Wellesley, commander of the British forces in the Iberian Peninsula, prepares to invade French-controlled Spain.He orders Lieutenant Richard Sharpe and his band of "chosen men" to accompany the arrogantly incompetent, newly arrived Sir Henry Simmerson and his South Essex Regiment on a small, but significant mission to destroy a bridge vital to French troop movements.Simmerson, his nephew Lieutenant Gibbons (Neil Dudgeon) and Lieutenant Berry (Daniel Craig) despise Sharpe for his low birth.