The year is 1775,
and social ills plague both France and England. Jerry Cruncher, an odd-job-man
who works for Tellson’s Bank, stops the Dover mail-coach with an urgent
message for Jarvis Lorry. The message instructs Lorry to wait at Dover for a
young woman, and Lorry responds with the cryptic words, “Recalled to Life.” At
Dover, Lorry is met by Lucie Manette, a young orphan whose father, a once-eminent
doctor whom she supposed dead, has been discovered in France. Lorry escorts
Lucie to Paris, where they meet Defarge, a former servant of Doctor Manette,
who has kept Manette safe in a garret. Driven mad by eighteen years in the
Bastille, Manette spends all of his time making shoes, a hobby he learned
while in prison. Lorry assures Lucie that her love and devotion can recall her
father to life, and indeed they do.
The year is now 1780.
Charles Darnay stands accused of treason against the English crown. A
bombastic lawyer named Stryver pleads Darnay’s case, but it is not until his
drunk, good-for-nothing colleague, Sydney Carton, assists him that the court
acquits Darnay. Carton clinches his argument by pointing out that he himself
bears an uncanny resemblance to the defendant, which undermines the
prosecution’s case for unmistakably identifying Darnay as the spy the
authorities spotted. Lucie and Doctor Manette watched the court proceedings,
and that night, Carton escorts Darnay to a tavern and asks how it feels to
receive the sympathy of a woman like Lucie. Carton despises and resents
Darnay because he reminds him of all that he himself has given up and might
have been.
In France, the cruel Marquis Evrémonde runs
down a plebian child with his carriage. Manifesting an attitude typical of
the aristocracy in regard to the poor at that time, the Marquis shows no
regret, but instead curses the peasantry and hurries home to his chateau,
where he awaits the arrival of his nephew, Darnay, from England. Arriving
later that night, Darnay curses his uncle and the French aristocracy for its
abominable treatment of the people. He renounces his identity as an
Evrémonde and announces his intention to return to England. That night, the
Marquis is murdered; the murderer has left a note signed with the nickname
adopted by French revolutionaries: “Jacques.”
A year passes, and Darnay asks Manette for
permission to marry Lucie. He says that, if Lucie accepts, he will reveal
his true identity to Manette. Carton, meanwhile, also pledges his love to
Lucie, admitting that, though his life is worthless, she has helped him
dream of a better, more valuable existence. On the streets of London, Jerry
Cruncher gets swept up in the funeral procession for a spy named Roger Cly.
Later that night, he demonstrates his talents as a “Resurrection-Man,”
sneaking into the cemetery to steal and sell Cly’s body. In Paris, meanwhile,
another English spy known as John Barsad drops into Defarge’s wine-shop.
Barsad hopes to turn up evidence concerning the mounting revolution, which
is still in its covert stages. Madame Defarge sits in the shop knitting a
secret registry of those whom the revolution seeks to execute. Back in
London, Darnay, on the morning of his wedding, keeps his promise to Manette;
he reveals his true identity and, that night, Manette relapses into his old
prison habit of making shoes. After nine days, Manette regains his presence
of mind, and soon joins the newlyweds on their honeymoon. Upon Darnay’s
return, Carton pays him a visit and asks for his friendship. Darnay assures
Carton that he is always welcome in their home.
The year is now 1789.
The peasants in Paris storm the Bastille and the French Revolution begins.
The revolutionaries murder aristocrats in the streets, and Gabelle, a man
charged with the maintenance of the Evrémonde estate, is imprisoned. Three
years later, he writes to Darnay, asking to be rescued. Despite the threat
of great danger to his person, Darnay departs immediately for France.
As soon as Darnay arrives in Paris, the
French revolutionaries arrest him as an emigrant. Lucie and Manette make
their way to Paris in hopes of saving him. Darnay remains in prison for a
year and three months before receiving a trial. In order to help free him,
Manette uses his considerable influence with the revolutionaries, who
sympathize with him for having served time in the Bastille. Darnay receives
an acquittal, but that same night he is arrested again. The charges, this
time, come from Defarge and his vengeful wife. Carton arrives in Paris with
a plan to rescue Darnay and obtains the help of John Barsad, who turns out
to be Solomon Pross, the long-lost brother of Miss Pross, Lucie’s loyal
servant.
At Darnay’s trial, Defarge produces a letter
that he discovered in Manette’s old jail cell in the Bastille. The letter
explains the cause of Manette’s imprisonment. Years ago, the brothers
Evrémonde (Darnay’s father and uncle) enlisted Manette’s medical assistance.
They asked him to tend to a woman, whom one of the brothers had raped, and her
brother, whom the same brother had stabbed fatally. Fearing that Manette might
report their misdeeds, the Evrémondes had him arrested. Upon hearing this
story, the jury condemns Darnay for the crimes of his ancestors and sentences
him to die within twenty-four hours. That night, at the Defarge’s wine-shop,
Carton overhears Madame Defarge plotting to have Lucie and her daughter (also
Darnay’s daughter) executed as well; Madame Defarge, it turns out, is the
surviving sibling of the man and woman killed by the Evrémondes. Carton
arranges for the Manettes’ immediate departure from France. He then visits
Darnay in prison, tricks him into changing clothes with him, and, after
dictating a letter of explanation, drugs his friend unconscious. Barsad
carries Darnay, now disguised as Carton, to an awaiting coach, while Carton,
disguised as Darnay, awaits execution. As Darnay, Lucie, their child, and Dr.
Manette speed away from Paris, Madame Defarge arrives at Lucie’s apartment,
hoping to arrest her. There she finds the supremely protective Miss Pross. A
scuffle ensues, and Madame Defarge dies by the bullet of her own gun. Sydney
Carton meets his death at the guillotine, and the narrator confidently asserts
that Carton dies with the knowledge that he has finally imbued his life with
meaning.
