The film starts with a Flashback (narrative) to 1803 in India, where Richard Sharpe (fictional character) (Sean Bean) leads a patrol to an British East India Company outpost. He arrives shortly before another supposedly friendly group of soldiers led by Major William Dodd (fiction) (Toby Stephens). In a treacherous surprise attack, Dodd's men kill the entire garrison, leaving no witnesses, and makes off with the payroll. However, Sharpe is only wounded and manages to survive by pretending to be dead.