London, 1940: Francis Hancock finds the brutally eviscerated body of a woman in a derelict house in Plaistow. Francis' sister, Nancy, knew the victim. Then, shockingly, two more murders follow; again, the victims are female and also eviscerated. Rumours start to spread through the East End about a modern day Jack the Ripper. When a fourth woman is murdered, Nancy finally admits that she knew all of the victims. They were all White Feather Girls during the First World War; women who spent their time giving any man out of uniform a white feather as a sign of cowardice. Francis is appalled, but also terrified that now his sister might be murdered too. He sets out to find the killer and discovers a trail of murderous resentment that goes back decades...