In 1913 suffragette Ameline Stroud-Sinclair and her husband disappear from their South London home under mysterious circumstances. The scene shifts to 1958, where Barney Carmichael, a former juggler turned private detective, is hired by Hortense to find her sister, Ameline.In 1913 suffragette Ameline Stroud-Sinclair and her husband disappear from their South London home under mysterious circumstances. The scene shifts to 1958, where Barney Carmichael, a former juggler turned private detective, is hired by Hortense to find her sister, Ameline. As the story unfolds between the two decades, we follow the fortunes of an unprincipled parlour maid, an unemployed alcoholic cook and a mysterious gentleman known only as 'Bob', all of whom are in some way linked to Ameline's fate. Added into the mix, is the ex-juggler's schizophrenic, knife-wielding wife but what part does she play in Ameline's story?