Set in and around Edinburgh, the novel follows Jeanie Deans, a poor but steadfast young woman whose sister Effie is accused of killing her infant; Jeanie refuses to save her by perjury and instead undertakes a difficult journey to London to petition for a royal pardon, confronting legal machinations, social hypocrisy and dangerous episodes such as the Porteous riot, while the story interweaves vivid sketches of Scottish life, tangled romantic subplots and a final, emotionally powerful reckoning of loyalty, conscience and justice.