It is 1851. A group of excursionists sets off from Canterbury to see the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. During the train journey the organiser, Percy Blackwood, invites them to tell stories which he intends to publish anonymously, for unknown to the others he is in serious debt. From the navvy to the lady's companion, from the book binder to the music hall artiste, they all oblige, their stories forming a panorama of Victorian England and offering glimpses into the lives of their tellers. All set off for the Crystal Palace with high hopes, and all are changed, for better or worse, by encountering the technical and engineering miracles of the age.