In an alternate 1930s England, the country is in the throes of a civil cold war. From the ashes of a failed uprising, the Compliance Act is passed, stripping women of their rights and sentencing them to harsh labour camps in the industrial north. London, gripped by its coldest winter in generations, is governed by Marlowe House, a cruel secret police force that rules over the public through fear and surveillance, and is tasked with the arrests of all dissidents by any means. Officer Jack King has spent years serving it without question, until his partner's death exposes a truth too dangerous to ignore. In his grief, he is drawn to an older woman, Abigail Spencer, a mysterious prisoner he's tasked to escort from Birmingham to London. But in a moment of humanity, King sets off a chain of events that leads to the absolute destruction of everything he once held dear.