1860s: A serial killer haunts the dark streets of Bristol. Young women are murdered, their bloodied bodies left naked and exposed in dark alleyways. An innocent man goes to the gallows but another murder, discovered as the noose tightens around his neck, shows the wrong man was sent to his death. Bristol police, criticised on all sides, are incensed when Scotland Yard's Detective Inspector Whittaker is sent to investigate the killings. Will they find the killer and prevent more young women from meeting a gruesome death?