Fanny has stolen the heart of Edmund Sparkler, whose mother, Mrs Merdle, is determined to separate them once and for all. Meanwhile, Merdle's Bank is besieged by investors, and Arthur is worried when he sees a suspicious French stranger - the villainous Rigaud - at his mother's house.

Mr Dorrit leaves Amy behind in Venice as he returns to London with newlyweds Fanny and Sparkler, but the high life is not all he had hoped it would be. Meanwhile, Arthur invests Doyce and Clennam's capital in Merdle's Bank, and Flora investigates the disappearance of Rigaud.