As the Iremonger family begins a search for a new home in London, residents of the city begin to notice strange incidents, including missing persons, strange objects appearing, a creeping darkness, and lots of rats.

"In 1761, a tiny, odd-looking girl named Marie is born in a village in Switzerland. After the death of her parents, she is apprenticed to an eccentric wax sculptor and whisked off to the seamy streets of Paris, where they meet a domineering widow and her quiet, pale son. Together, they convert an abandoned monkey house into an exhibition hall for wax heads, and the spectacle becomes a sensation. As word of her artistic talent spreads, Marie is called...