Dr Timothy Rook is in demand on the college lecture circuit primarily because he is a widely respected anatomist. He wants to devote more of his time to research, because he knows that is the only way in which he can push the field of medical science forward, but during this period in history - the nineteenth century - it is hard to come by medical cadavers, at least legally. However Dr Rock is prepared to use grave robbers to furnish him with bodies and tasks his assistant Dr Murray with buying them.
Two local criminals, Fallon and Broom, overhear the doctors talking about their plan, and decide to murder the locals so that they can sell their bodies for a small fortune. Dr Rock finds the sudden influx of corpses suspicious but Murray is not perturbed at all. Rock is also becoming romantically involved with a local prostitute , Jennie, but she is also targeted by Fallon and Broom. They manage to murder her best friend Alice, but this alerts Murray to their exploits, and he saves Jennie from them. Both Brrom an Falllon are arrested but when Broom gives evidence against Fallon he is released, whilst Fallon is hanged.
Rock is publicly linked to the crimes and his perceived connection to them the subject of public outrage. The outrage gradually dies down, but Rock is left feeling guilty and shocked at his own ability to be complicit in a series of murders.
