In the mysterious steampunk city of New Albion, Annabel McAlistair brings her beloved Jasper back to life into a mechanical doll body she's built. Jasper however does not wish to remain with the living, and finally Annabel decides to free him by destroying the doll. A generation passes and Annabel's now orphaned son Edgar finds himself rejected by his fiancée Fay. Edgar builds a business raising the dead into dolls and becomes a wealthy businessman. Using his influence Edgar backs Fay into a corner: she may once more see her dead father – Jasper whom Edgar has brought back – if she agrees to marry Edgar. By the time of the next generation Edgar and Fay's son Byron has become the leader of the Voodoopunk Cult, with Jasper at his side as a mascot of the Beyond. Jasper's song about the beauty of the afterlife convinces a mistreated girl named Amelia to take her own life, which the horrified citizens choose to avenge by violently attacking the Dolls. In the following decades New Albion becomes a harsh martial state, where hiding a Doll is a punishable offence. Byron's daughter Priscilla is shielding Jasper from the law, though he still desires to return to the Beyond. Accepting her fate Priscilla breaks her family's circle of selfishness and announces them both to the police. Struck by her sacrifice, a young Soldier swears to bring his cruel masters down.