A young English navy lieutenant sets out to prove that the quickest way to reach India from London is by way of the Mediterranean and Suez rather than the long sea route around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, which takes six months. With his friend, French explorer and natural scientist Martial de Sassenage, Thomas Waghorn leaves London in October 1829 with the aim of reaching Bombay in India in three months. The owner of a shipping line fears for his company's future should the two adventurers succeed, so he sends his agents to delay them along their way.