It’s December 1805, and Eliza Hamilton is determined to seek justice. One young woman is dead, another has vanished --- both residents of a house where Eliza’s friend, Alice, lives among other craftswomen struggling to survive in a city unforgiving toward widows and orphans. With no help from the constabulary because the young woman’s body was found in a bad part of town --- and was dressed as a man --- Eliza vows to protect the women and uncover the truth. She suspects a connection between the death and the disappearance, especially given that the young lady who disappeared went missing while searching for the woman who was later found dead. As Eliza traces their last known steps, she unearths a hidden world of dangerous secrets lurking beneath the city --- secrets that could tear apart everything she holds dear.

New York, 1804. Alexander Hamilton lies dead after a duel with Aaron Burr. Eliza Hamilton’s 18-year-old son, Alexander Jr., was seen fighting with a man in a tavern the night before his father’s duel and quickly comes under suspicion for murder when the man turns up dead. Eliza searches for ways to clear her son’s name, but as she combs through her late husband’s papers, she finds evidence of a plot to steal money from the government during his tenure as secretary of state. Deep in debt and despair, with eight children to support, Eliza turns to selling her handmade lace --- and is drawn into a mysterious network of widow lacemakers who are intimately connected to New York’s high-society families. They know their dead husbands’ secrets --- and Eliza soon begins to piece together the truth.