Soldiers in Her Majesty's army, Privates Ackroyd (Stewart Granger), Sykes (Robert Newton) and Malloy (Cyril Cusack) are known as the Queen's Hard Bargain, as likely to get into barroom brawls with the entire Scottish army as to bravely defend their regiment on the battlefield. Their commanders, Colonel Brunswick (Walter Pidgeon) and Captain Pindenny (David Niven), are tasked with bringing some order into this tightly knit squad of hellions while attempting to quell rebellion in the wilds of 19th-century India. Deploying a divide-and-conquer strategy, Brunswick decides to promote one of them to sergeant, and Ackroyd receives the unwanted honor. But the Queen's Hard Bargain will need to reunite when their infantry unit is called to second a cavalry command that seems determined to use them as a sacrificial lure to draw out the rebel warlord Manik Rao (Michael Ansara).