Ali Dawson is a police officer working on crimes so old, the joke goes, that they are not only cold but frozen. What most people don't know is that the team travels back in time to complete their research. The process has been pioneered by the mysterious Italian physicist, Serafina Pelligrini, known to the team as Jones. So far the team has only ventured a few years back but Ali's boss has a new assignment for her. He wants her to step back to 1850, the heart of the Victorian Age, to clear the name of Cain Templeton, the eccentric great-grandfather of Tory MP Isaac Templeton. To prepare for the challenge ahead, Ali researches the Victorian era. She learns that Cain Templeton was part of a sinister group called The Collectors, the rumour being that you had to kill a woman to become a member. Ali also researches fashions, behaviour and habits. Duly prepared, she arrives in London in January 1850, at the peak of the so-called mini ice age. She finds herself in a house used by artists, with a dead woman at her feet. Soon she finds herself in extreme danger. Even worse - she appears to be stuck, unable to make her way back to the present and her son, Finn.