Out of the dust-heaps and dirty streets of mid-Victorian London, Dickens creates a classic murder-mystery tale. A dead man is fished out of the Thames by a scavenger and his daughter. Who is he, and how did he get there?The man's death affects members of all levels of a society permeated by greed. Dickens presents an array of characters both touching and humorous, from Mr. Boffin, the "Golden" Dustman, to Jenny Wren, the lame doll's dress-maker. It is a story enriched by disguise and intrigue, while the River Thames, symbolising both polluted and renewed life, weaves through it all - in this, the last novel Dickens completed.