Life on the streets of London's East End in 1921 presents thirteen-year-old Malcolm Roberts with a daunting array of challenges. Trying to stand up to bullies is hard enough. And pluck can backfire. While trailing some suspicious youths in Whitechapel, he stumbles upon a back-alley plot to purge Limehouse of its Chinese inhabitants. Malcolm cannot imagine what he could do about it. Like most of his schoolmates, he is tempted to lose himself in play and books. But his home life has changed. His mother is two years in the grave and his father fights an ongoing battle with shell shock and drink....