Manchester industrialist William Rose was a poor lad who pulled himself up by his bootstraps, but in order to achieve his greatest ambitions he must become the epitome of Victorian respectability: a family man. But the only woman who's caught his eye is Octavia Marshall, one of the notorious ladies of Carson Street. Though once born to great wealth and privilege, she's hardly respectable, but she's determined to forge a new life as an entirely proper businesswoman. They strike a deal that promises them both what they want most, but William's a fool if he thinks Octavia will be a conventional married woman, and she's very much mistaken if she thinks the lives they once led won't follow them forever.