1847 Manchester is troubled by agitators of one faction or another. The city is uneasy as the country waits for a general election in a time of economic depression. Britain is not the only imperial power in Europe. As the Tsar of Russia casts covetous eyes on a weakening Turkish Empire, his second son is about to visit the city. The proposed visit stirs up bitter memories of a military fiasco the outcome of which has affected lives in ways that could not have been predicted. Hopes, dreams and nightmares are part of the same reality. One man hides many secrets, another cannot trust his own recollections, and two women have had their existence scarred by events which occurred thousands of miles away in Afghanistan