On a wet London morning in 1857, American engineer Chester Ludlow arrives on the muddy banks of the Isle of Dogs to witness the launch of the largest steamship ever built, the Great Eastern. Also amidst the tumultuous throng is Jack Trace, a lonely bachelor and sketch artist hoping to make his name as an illustrator and journalist in the hurly burly of Fleet Street. The two men, along with Ludlow's wife Franny, his imposing brother Otis, the bombastic entrepreneur J. Beaumol Spude, the dwarfish inventor of the Great Eastern, the creator of the modern sewer system, his adulterous wife, and a wily prostitute will all become involved with various modes of communication, with the realization of the Victorian age. They will witness and participate in the creation of the first transoceanic telegraph cable. It is the thread that will connect worlds and break apart lives.