Arthur Clennam returns home to find Amy Dorrit, a kind seamstress, and her debt-imprisoned father, William Dorrit, caught in a web of Victorian society's injustices, where even the slightest misstep can lead to Marshalsea prison.

Dickens masterfully weaves a tale of serendipity and fortune, exposing the harsh realities of debtors' prisons and the bureaucratic Circumlocution Office, painting a vivid picture of Victorian life under constant threat of imprisonment.