When Arthur Clennam returns to England after many years abroad, his curiosity is piqued by the presence in his mother's house of a young seamstress, Amy Dorrit. Mrs Clennam isn't usually given to charity, so why has she made an exception in taking on Amy? Arthur's quest to discover the truth takes him to the Marshalsea Prison for Debt. Here he meets and befriends Amy's father, William Dorrit.