Jedrington Secret-Past teams up with a charming new business partner, but is Harmswell Grimstone all he seems, or is he actually massively evil? And what is the awful secret behind the cryptic letter that has disturbed Jedrington's wife Conceptiva so greatly that she has made her way to End-It-All Dock? As the Secret-Past family's fortunes rise and rise it turns out that the foundations of their happiness are far from sound.

Stricken with grief at the apparent death of his wife, Jedrington begins to question the morality of his business empire until on Easter Eve he is visited by three terrifying ghostly rabbits who drive him over the edge of despair. Meanwhile at the hands of Miss Primly Tightclench the governess Mr Wackvile, headmaster of St Nasty's the Secret-Past children suffer the worst extremes of Victorian education until Victor goes missing in a suspicious accident with an automatic caning machine. But who is the mysterious amnesiac woman wandering the East End?

Reduced to poverty and gin addiction Jedrington is at his lowest ebb, until his loyal and true servant Servegood restores him to sobriety by the gentle application of a massive cudgel. Reunited with Conceptiva, the two take the evil Mr Harmswell Grimstone to court to demand the return of the business and their daughter. But when the judge turns out to be Grimstone's uncle the case seems hopeless. Just when all seems lost, the family find the solution in the most unlikely place.