It is 1888 and Jack the Ripper is stalking the streets of Whitechapel. For the people that live there, he is just one more adversary in their everyday battle to survive. Despite working long days at the tea factory, and the constant threat of the Ripper, Fiona Finnegan knows that life is better for her than for many others. With a father in work, a roof over her head, enough to eat and a loving family to keep her warm, she is among ‘the respectable working poor.’ And she also has Joe. Fiona and Joe Bristow have been sweethearts for as long as anyone can remember, and are saving up their meagre wages so that some day, they can open their very own shop.

But things take a terrible turn for Fiona when events conspire to tear her, Joe and her family apart, and she finds herself alone in the world. The East End is a dangerous place to be by oneself, and the Ripper isn’t the only threat casting a dark shadow over her life. Somehow, she must escape, build a life for herself, and forget about Joe. But how can she? When Joe is the only man she has ever loved?