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The year 1666 is not a great one for London. In the overcrowded city tensions run high because of conflicts between rich and poor, the last remains of a Plague epidemic, the perilious position of the King and the persecution of Catholics. Thomas Farriner runs a bakery in Pudding Lane. As a widower, he has to take care of his two young daughters and also keeps an eye on his sister-in-law Sarah and her son. One hot September day Thomas' daughter leaves the door of the bakery oven open and so unwittingly starts a fire. Soon, the fire jumps from house to house in the crowded slums, people are trying to flee to safety and street rows are breaking out. Meanwhile, Lord Denton is tracking Sarah who he believes to be a Catholic spy and writer Samuel Pepys tries to convince King Charles II the take some serious measures against the spreading fire.