Esther Waters is a young woman living in 1880. Brought up by a puritanical mother, she leaves to become a servant in an aristocratic household. There she falls in love with the footman, William Latch, who seduces and then abandons her. Pregnant and alone, she returns to London to find her mother dead. With no one but herself for comfort she struggles to survive. A tale of strength of the human spirit in the face of adversity.