Stalled in his writing career and feeling overwhelmed by his charismatic, successful boss, the renowned actor Sir Henry Irving, Bram Stoker returns to London in the summer of 1888 determined to turn his life around.

Late one night, Stoker decides to take a stroll through the streets of Whitechapel, an impoverished district of London known for its many prostitutes as well as the citizenry crowding its dark alleys. Amid the shadows he spies a seemingly familiar figure, a man resembling a quack American “doctor” of his acquaintance. But before Stoker can be certain, the man disappears.

Little does the writer know that just a few steps away, the crime spree of the century has begun: a vicious killer has claimed his first victim, a local prostitute, and Stoker somehow becomes a prime suspect. To clear his name, Stoker enlists some of his illustrious friends. When they discover that the murder weapon is a Gurkha knife owned by Stoker and recently stolen from his home, there can be no doubt that the elusive American doctor—Francis Tumblety—is the very same man terrorizing and taunting London as Jack the Ripper.