The story begins in the village of Woodbury, near Hertford, England, during the mid-eighteenth century. The respectable Jones family is headed by David—handsome, charming, and admired for his integrity. But his son William begins to realize that his comfortable, secure home hides a secret when he hears the sound of his father's dragging footsteps during the night, signifying an unwell body and a troubled spirit. In a dying confession to his son, the father confides that he is haunted by guilt because years ago he cheated his business partner.

After his father's death, William journeys to London to seek the former business partner, entertaining a vague notion of making things right with him.

The big city, he finds, includes not only impressive sights such as St. Paul's Cathedral and London Bridge, but also the grinding poverty of slums, a confusing maze of laws and lawyers, and...