This is the story of a young man growing up in England in 1828. Thomas Timewell lives a rather sedate life with his mother, but all that changes when he meets a man who steals corpses from cemeteries and sells them to hospitals for dissection. At first reluctantly, and later willingly, Thomas follows Plenitude, as the man calls himself, through a series of macabre and dangerous escapades that include murderous bodysnatchers, a vengeful teacher, and a mad woman of the moors. Along the way Thomas falls in love with the lovely Victoria (who who hides a secret of her own) and makes a startling discovery about his own lineage.