In 1813, a band of deserters, British, French, and others, led by Sharpe's nemesis Obadiah Hakeswill and French renegade Pot-au-Feu, takes over a Portuguese village. Lady Isabella (Elizabeth Hurley), the wife of Sir Augustus Farthingdale, the English military envoy to Portugal, is taken captive. The brigands demand a ransom for her and for another lady taken earlier, Sarah, the spouse of French Colonel Dubreton.

Sharpe delivers the money for Lady Isabella, while Dubreton does the same for his wife. Sarah mysteriously recites a verse of poetry. Hakeswill, however, demands double the amount and gives each man five days to deliver the second installment. When Sharpe returns to camp, Wellington, the British commander, decides that drastic action is required to discourage desertion before it can infect his army.

Sharpe also reports seeing a Major Ducos, who accompanied Dubreton. This worries Major Nairn, the head of Wellington's military intelligence. He suspects that Ducos, his French counterpart, is scouting the route for a French invasion of Portugal. The village happens to be directly in the most likely path.

Sarah's poem^[2] conceals a clue to the captives' whereabouts. Sharpe comes up with a risky plan to rescue the women. When Farthingdale objects by quoting regulations that a major must lead a detachment of this size, Wellington presents him with a letter from the Prince Regent, who has followed Sharpe's exploits with admiration, promoting Sharpe to major.

Sharpe sneaks into the village with Sergeant Harper and his "chosen men" on Christmas Eve, when the enemy is drunk and distracted, and frees the captives. While they wait for Captain William Frederickson to bring up his company, it is revealed that Lady Isabella had been a prostitute and Sharpe's lover. With time on their hands, they resume their sexual relationship.

The battle goes almost as planned. The deserters are killed or captured, except for Hakeswill, who escapes. He runs into Sharpe's wife Teresa, who had been scouting the approaching French force. Hakeswill mortally wounds her, but is caught by Dubreton, who hands him over to Sharpe. Teresa dies in Sharpe's arms.

Ducos delivers an ultimatum, demanding the surrender of the village. Sharpe refuses. When Farthingdale tries to negotiate, Sharpe stops him by threatening to reveal Isabella's past to the Lisbon court. The French attack, outnumbering the British 10 to 1, but fall into Sharpe's trap and are repulsed with rocket artillery. Hakeswill is executed by firing squad.

• Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe
• Daragh O'Malley as Sergeant Patrick Harper
• Hugh Fraser as Lord Wellington
• Michael Byrne as Major Nairn
• Pete Postlethwaite as Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill
• Assumpta Serna as Comandante Teresa Moreno
• Jeremy Child as Sir Augustus Farthingdale
• Elizabeth Hurley as Isabella, Lady Farthingdale
• Helena Michell as Sarah Dubreton
• Tony Haygarth as Pot-au-Feu
• Michael Mears as Rifleman Francis Cooper
• John Tams as Rifleman Daniel Hagman
• Jason Salkey as Rifleman Harris
• Lyndon Davies as Rifleman Perkins
• Philip Whitchurch as Captain William Frederickson
• Féodor Atkine as Major Pierre Ducos
• François Guétary as Colonel Dubreton
• Nicholas Rowe as Lieutenant Gilliand
• Vincent Grass as General Chaumier
• Diana Perez as Ramona
• Morgan Jones as Kelly
• Iain Glass as Sergeant Rossner

The programme was filmed in Ukraine.

• "Spanish Ladies"

• Sharpe's Enemy at IMDb  
• Sharpe's Enemy at SharpeFilm.com