Dr. Manette is released from the Bastille after eighteen years' confinement, which has driven him to the edge of madness. He is "recalled to life" by the joyous reconciliation with his daughter Lucie, and returns with her to England. But Manette's maniacal obsession with shoemaking, developed during his long incarceration, is not quite over, for there are dark secrets surrounding his "crime" that have yet to emerge; secrets involving the reprehensible French aristocrat Marquis Sr. Evremonde, who represents the worst of the ancien regime. Lucie is courted by Evremonde's nephew, Charles Darnay, who has renounced his heritage but remains tainted -- and threated -- by the familial connection. His rival for Lucie's affections, wastrel lawyer Sydney Carton, becomes an unlikely hero when tragedy seems to strike. The action switches between London and Revolutionary Paris in Dickens's compelling drama of love, vengeance and sacrifice played out against a momentous period in European history. -- from publisher.