Arthur begins his life in the year before his six­teenth birth­day, when his fam­i­ly is hit hard by finan­cial strug­gles. This dif­fi­cult sit­u­a­tion push­es him to work extra hours at a young age to help pay the rent and con­tribute to the house­hold. Each morn­ing, he ris­es before dawn, endur­ing a dai­ly rou­tine that involves using the lit­tle resources avail­able to him. He uses cold water mixed with dilut­ed vine­gar to wash his face, as the soap he receives from char­i­ty is of poor qual­i­ty. As he walks through the streets of Lon­don dur­ing these ear­ly hours, he is con­front­ed by the harsh real­i­ties of the city, where beg­gars and the bro­ken-heart­ed can be seen at every cor­ner. One day, Arthur stum­bles upon a trag­ic scene: a man who has frozen to death on the side­walk, an event that adds to the crush­ing weight of his strug­gles and rein­forces the dis­mal real­i­ty around him.

Hunger becomes an ever-present issue for Arthur, who starts his day with noth­ing more than a sim­ple bread roll. Occa­sion­al­ly, he finds a small indul­gence in but­ter or a warm drink from a near­by stall, try­ing to momen­tar­i­ly lift his spir­its. These fleet­ing joys come when he brings treats home for his moth­er and younger broth­er, offer­ing them small tokens of hap­pi­ness amid the gloom. The over­whelm­ing fatigue from his long hours of work by night leaves him devoid of ener­gy to read or enter­tain any hope for a bet­ter future. Instead, he is haunt­ed by the mem­o­ry of his late broth­er, whose absence weighs heav­i­ly on his heart. Even though life seems relent­less­ly harsh, there are moments of beauty—like the songs of gulls or the invit­ing aro­ma of roast­ing chestnuts—that briefly offer him a sense of peace, remind­ing him that even small things in life can bring com­fort.

One day, while at the office, Arthur gets engrossed in exam­in­ing illus­tra­tions for an upcom­ing Eng­lish reprint of The Works of Rabelais. His admi­ra­tion for the pow­er of visu­al sto­ry­telling con­trasts sharply with his self-doubt about his artis­tic tal­ents. But then, the door to the office bursts open, and a man rush­es in, lat­er revealed to be the famous Charles Dick­ens. Dick­ens, seek­ing Mr. Evans, is told of Mr. Bradbury’s pass­ing, and Arthur, as Bradbury’s appren­tice, seizes the oppor­tu­ni­ty to intro­duce him­self. Dick­ens imme­di­ate­ly notices Arthur’s poten­tial and acknowl­edges his skill, inspir­ing Arthur to con­tin­ue striv­ing in his career.

Their con­ver­sa­tion turns to the dif­fi­cul­ties authors face, espe­cial­ly those bound by oppres­sive pub­lish­ing con­tracts. Dick­ens, who shares his frus­tra­tions with the pub­lish­ing world, express­es a desire to break free from these con­straints and pro­pos­es a part­ner­ship with Mr. Evans. This col­lab­o­ra­tion results in the suc­cess­ful pub­li­ca­tion of four nov­els, though their attempt to launch the Dai­ly News falls into finan­cial ruin. Months lat­er, Arthur runs into a disheveled Dick­ens who brings with him a spe­cial gift—a rare treat from the Ottoman lands, offer­ing a glimpse into Dick­ens’ per­son­al life and strug­gles amid rumors of infi­deli­ty. As they talk, Arthur opens up about his dreams of trav­el­ing to Nin­eveh, and Dick­ens, rec­og­niz­ing his poten­tial, gifts Arthur with tai­lored cloth­ing to help him expe­ri­ence the world beyond the lim­its of his work­ing-class upbring­ing.

Dick­ens’ thought­ful ges­ture is accom­pa­nied by a let­ter that encour­ages Arthur to explore new hori­zons, mark­ing a sig­nif­i­cant turn­ing point in his jour­ney. The let­ter hints at the trans­for­ma­tion that lies ahead for Arthur, urg­ing him to break free from the lim­i­ta­tions of his cur­rent life. Despite Dick­ens soon dis­ap­pear­ing back into his per­son­al strug­gles, Arthur is left with a renewed sense of hope and pur­pose. This moment sparks a fire with­in him, fuel­ing his desire to escape the con­fines of Lon­don and embrace a future full of oppor­tu­ni­ties. Dick­ens, even in his absence, leaves Arthur with the belief that a brighter and more adven­tur­ous future is with­in reach, far beyond the nar­row world he once knew.