Hetty Littlewood is one of the last of the Wise Women, practitioners of an old magic that has no place in the gritty, cold-blooded Victorian city of Manchester. But when her son, Daryl, a canal boat captain and part-time prizefighter, runs afoul of a group of menacing gamblers and suddenly finds himself accused of murder, she must act.

Hetty uses her formidable occult powers to spirit her son and daughter, Myra, along with their faithful friend, George, to the Water Realm, a distant reality filled with peril and wonder. As they traverse the Realm in search of the portal home, the trio outwit the frighteningly non-human Hix, navigate a river that flows in both directions and battle in an arena for the pleasure of the cruel Kaa-Rom. All the while, the unfathomable legacy of an extinct powerful
race known as the 'Ancient Dead' looms over the future of the travellers. Every step toward safety is also a step closer to doom.

Meanwhile, Hetty infiltrates the city's dangerous underworld of gin palaces and bordellos as well as the more dangerous mansions of the rich and powerful, joining the household of a brilliant but fearfully dangerous millionaire in every attempt to clear her son's name ready for his return. But will the family finally be reunited and will the reunion bring happiness or grief?