Dr. r. Henry Jekyll was a kind and sensitive gentleman, his Victorian English household well ordered and safe. Mary Reilly, his maid, worked hard, noting in her diary the deep satisfaction she took in her service to him. But Dr. Jekyll began lingering too long in his laboratory, pursuing experiments into realms Mary knew well-and prayed to forget. Then a stranger entered their lives, uncontrollable and bloodthirsty, stirring dim, long- hushed desires. Buried terrors were surfacing, this time to triumph and, perchance, to consume Mary in their pitiless, heartrending embrace.