It is 1852, and Inspector Robert Colbeck and his assistant Sergeant Victor Leeming are faced with their most complex and difficult case to date. As a train speeds over the Sankey Viaduct, a man is hurled from a carriage and plummets into the canal below. It later transpires that he has been stabbed to death.
Belfast 1939: Martha Goulding's world is shattered by a sudden death and the outbreak of war that leaves her family facing an uncertain future. Her daughters are talented singers who join a troupe of entertainers led by Goldstein, a Polish Jew, who is determined to raise morale and money for the war effort. But Martha is torn between allowing her girls to perform and keeping them safe from men, both in and out...