Two men offer two very different futures in this tale of a young man's search for himself after a spectacular fall.

William Dempsey rose from a life of thieving and prostitution to be the personal plaything of the Marquess of Argyll. Then a betrayal sees him returned to the rough streets of London without patronage, his West End apartment, or a place among the ton.

So on a stormy night, he arrives at a house in Southwark - Marathon Moll's in the Mint - the bawdyhouse he worked in during his ascent and where he earned the name Blue Billy. Here, amidst the parties and antics at Moll's, he meets Tom, a quiet, conflicted man, who senses in Billy a kindred soul. The attraction is immediate, and they take the first, tentative steps towards each other.

Then an ambitious young rogue arrives at the house asking Billy to fulfil the promise of his failed youth. He asks him to reclaim the language of his past, even if it costs him his future.