1888, London—Charity Llewellyn, 19, looks forward to marrying one day, but upon learning that her intended groom is Mathias Baptiste, the immoral son of a wealthy banker, she runs away from home to avoid the betrothal. Angry at her attempt, her father appoints a handsome and mysterious man, Alexander Sutton, as her constant chaperone. Furious, Charity plots an escape with help from her friend Lillian, although that leads to involvement in an unsolved 20-year old murder and a shallow burial of human bones. As she tries to unravel the secrets of the old murder, she meets a frightening man who could be Jack the Ripper. But that's not her only obstacle. As she and Alexander grow closer and fall in love, she learns a dark secret he's been keeping and when Mathias finds them together, he is overcome with rage and will stop at nothing to get her back, not even murder.