Already famous throughout Europe for his theories of planetary motion and gravity, Isaac Newton became drawn into a Royal Mint battle with William Chaloner, the most skilful of counterfeiters, a man who not only got away with faking currency, but was trying to take over the Mint itself. Set against the backdrop of early eighteenth-century London with its sewers running down the middle of the streets, its fetid rivers, its packed houses, smoke and fog, its industries and its great port, this dark tale of obsession and revenge transforms our image of Britain's greatest scientist.