Adaptation of Philip Pullman's first book about Victorian heroine Sally Lockhart. Sixteen-year-old Sally has little academic knowledge, but has a thorough grounding in military tactics, can ride like the wind and shoot straight with a pistol. So when her father dies in mysterious circumstances during a voyage to the South China Sea, and a letter arrives soon after containing a strange warning, it becomes clear that Sally is in danger and will need to draw on all her skills.