Charles Augustus Fenton is born at Fenton Manor into wealth and assured future prosperity. His protected and indulged childhood could only be described as charmed. At home, the servants of Fenton Manor are deferential towards their employers, but in the outside world, the Chartists are rebelling against the vast inequities of the early Victorian class system. Cossetted by his upbringing and unaware of working class troubles, Charles is more interested in wiles of the womanly kind. He undergoes a torrid sexual awakening, with huge repercussions. A shocking event interrupts the calm, the consequences of which not even Charles' powerful and protective father can halt.