The story of three pickpocketing sisters, grow up in 1830s Shoreditch, nestled in the heart of London's criminal underworld; . Their story unfolds as two of them face banishment to England's 'thief colony'.

Two Victorian mothers from opposite ends of the social scale come together due to domestic violence; One desperately tries to feed her six children in 1880s London; the other leaves her lavish home to venture into the slums to help a fellow mother.

Press hysteria and public panic grip 1890s Salford, as it erupts into postcode violence; Rival gangs of youths, known as Scuttlers, clash in pitched street battles; Magistrate Joseph Makinson attempts to stamp out the epidemic of gang warfare.

The story of an Edwardian family trapped in welfare dependency and a mother accused of a shocking crime against her own child.