In the series premiere episode, security consultant/bouncer Alfred meets Thomas Wayne and Esme Winikus (recurring guest star EMMA CORRIN), an actress/dancer at the Golden Slipper nightclub that employs him. In a much darker part of London, Lord Harwood (series star JASON FLEMYNG), leader of the Raven Society is having a man tortured for a name which happens to be none other than Thomas Wayne. Courting Esme, Alfred brings her home to meet his doting mother and often-disapproving father (series regulars DOROTHY ATKINSON and IAN PULESTON-DAVIES), but the night ends in disaster when Esme is brazenly kidnapped by Bet Sykes (series star PALOMA FAITH). Working for Harwood, Sykes offers to trade Esme for Thomas Wayne. When Alfred is betrayed in the exchange, he and Thomas realize that Harwood and Sykes cannot be trusted, and that they'll have to work together to rescue Esme.

After fate dragged Alfred and Esme into a plot against the government, they escape relatively unscathed and decide to get engaged, despite their ups and downs. While Lord Harwood is arrested and tortured mentally and physically in the Tower, his lethal operative Bet Sykes takes the fall for the murder of Lord Fairfax and is sentenced to execution in Tyburn. But Bet gets some help from her older sister, Peggy (recurring guest star POLLY WALKER).

After meeting Esme’s wealthy family, Alfred calls off the wedding. Burying his heartbreak in smalltime work, Alfred accepts a high-paying, seemingly low-profile job from American photojournalist Martha Kane (series star EMMA PAETZ) to transport a scientist out of the country. But the job is complicated by Raven Society gunmen. When the dust settles, Martha reveals that she has been working for the No Names. She agrees to not deceive him again, if he agrees to work freelance only for her – that way, he’s not pledging his loyalty to one side or another. Desperate to reunite with Esme and finance a better life for her, he somewhat reluctantly agrees.

When Inspector Aziz (guest star RAMON TIKARAM) from Scotland Yard offers Alfred a job, he abruptly refuses, but feels guilty for working with Martha Kane and the No Names. Meanwhile, Thomas Wayne meets Martha for the first time as the designated leader of her No Name cell. He assigns her and Alfred a dangerous mission – to uncover the new leader of the Raven Society, who’s been betrayed by an informant. Although Martha and Alfred bond during the mission, tragedy strikes when Alfred returns to London.

Devastated by Esme’s murder, Alfred sinks into a dark depression – from which neither his friends nor family can rescue him. Although Martha comes to him with an offer of work, he wants nothing to do with her. It’s only months later, when the local undertaker John Ripper (guest star DANNY WEBB) pays a visit that he convinces Alfred to face the world again. Meanwhile, Peggy and Bet Sykes discover the broken and disfigured Lord Harwood who’s lost his mind and his identity. Taking the madman back home, they set out to nurse him back to health.

After Ripper gives Alfred the name of a mad genius able to help him solve Esme’s murder, he sets out to visit an asylum and talk to the inmate – Baroness Ortsey (guest star FELICITY KENDAL). Meanwhile, Thomas arrives at Martha’s and asks her to look after his high-life, wild sister Patricia (guest star SALÓME GUNNARSDÓTTIR) while he arranges her return to Gotham. Although they have little in common, Patricia convinces Martha to attend a debauched party at the lavish mansion of celebrity magician Aleister Crowley (guest star JONJO O’NEILL) who charms Martha and confides in her that he’s actually the Devil.