In Victorian London, mad surgeon Godwin Baxter pulls the body of a young pregnant woman from the Thames and revives her by transplanting the brain of her unborn child. At first Bella moves like a broken doll and speaks only in fragments, but she quickly learns and begins to discover the world. Under Godwin’s care and with the help of medical student Max, she becomes more independent, then runs off with the charming but debauched lawyer Duncan Wedderburn on a journey of self-discovery and worldliness.