In 1882, while his regiment is sent to the Sudan to battle the insurgent Arab tribes, British Lieutenant Faversham resigns his officer's commission in order to remain with his fiancée Ethne in England.His fellow officers and his fiancée brand him a coward and present him with the white feathers of cowardice.Lieutenant Faversham decides to regain his honor by fighting in the Sudan incognito.He travels to the Sudan where he employs various guises to save, one by one, the lives of his former fellow officers who branded him a coward back in England.In his exploits he is aided by Abou Fatma, a young sympathetic Arab.