Lucie thinks that her father, Dr Manette, is dead. Then one day a stranger tells her that Dr Manette is alive — he has been in the terrible Bastille prison in Paris for many years, and has just been released.

In Paris, Lucie finds her father being cared for by a loyal ex-servant, Defarge, and his wife. Poor Dr Manette goes back to England with Lucie.

A few years later, when Dr Manette and Lucie return to Paris, everything has changed. The French Revolution has begun, and the poor people are killing the noblemen. Lucie’s husband, the kind Charles Darnay, is the heir of some of the cruellest noblemen, and the Defarges are now plotting to destroy him. Only love and great courage can save him ...