Balaban, a soldier in the Janissary army, settles in Moena in northern Italy after the Battle of Vienna in 1683 and fights for the rights of the local people.
London widow Cora Seaborne moves to Essex to investigate reports of a mythical serpent. She forms an unlikely bond with the village vicar, but when tragedy strikes, locals accuse her of attracting the creature.
The everyday lives of working-class residents of Albert Square, a traditional Victorian square of terrace houses surrounding a park in the East End of London's Walford borough.
