Set in Victorian London, where the rich held 90% of wealth, and the poor were mostly living below the poverty line, in most cases starving. Fredrick, a French gypsy, left his family in France to travel with a fairground bound for England. In the East End of London, boxing for a living at the fairground, he met Emily Hurlin by chance, the daughter of a wealthy businessman and silk merchant, a descendant from the French Huguenots. Fredrick and Emily fell in love, against all sense and reality, but their love was frowned upon and she was disowned by her family and had to run away to get married and start a new life with a baby on the way. It was doomed to fail, before it began, or was it? They put up one hell of a fight. Fred's weaknesses were women, drinking and fighting. Emily's were that she loved too much.