The story starts with Mark being imprisoned in Pentonville for fighting, there he meets Benny Stevens an old time London gangster and a couple of his friends. Mark knows he was set up be his step dad Fujita who is from Pakistan and the head of a predatory paedophile gang. His step sister Tiffany was now thirteen and as far as her dad was concerned ripe for taking, his plan was to sell her virginity then he and his gang would rape her. Marks mum had in her day been a rare beauty, but that was before she became an alcoholic and drug addict. She cares for nothing but herself and getting drugs and booze, her kids were nothing but a pain in the arse to her.
Mark saves Tiffany from her dad’s gang and in doing so he escapes down The Strand a closed down underground station. They are chased by the gang and after getting lost in the maze of old tunnels, they find a train and jump on board. This train though is no ordinary train, this one if full of ghosts or lost souls as they preferred to be called. Every soul on the train is trapped there because of a debt or something they had done in the past, to move on their debt would need clearing. He is tricked in to helping them after they let Tiffany go. The train can travel anywhere on the underground system and in anytime that the underground had been open. When Mark goes back his appearance is changed to that of the time and should he be killed he will return to the train, also any injuries he may have will disappear as well.
The first ghost he helps is Jane Allcock who is the oldest of the souls, she though turns out to be nothing like she seemed. As he goes back in time to 1888 when she died and fixes her problem, this was the time when Jack the Ripper was active and Jane was privy to something that he or anyone else never knew, she knew who the Ripper was. Jack the Ripper wasn’t who everyone thought, and they Ripper’s identity is revealed to him.
Mark helps everyone on the train to move on all except Chad Potts, he is about the same age and like Mark is a West Ham United fan. The two young men strike up an instant friendship and Mark doesn’t seem to notice or care that Chad is a ghost. Chad is the only one who Mark helps more than the rest and this as the story unfolds proves to be his best decision ever.
The train is one of many underground and over ground trains with dead people in and each has a controller, on theirs its Mary Carter who is a little bit older than Mark. Mary is from the 1920s upper class and is posher than posh, she is tall blonde and stunningly good looking a true rival for Helen of Troy. Mark helps thirteen people and is involved in both the First World War and the Second as well, he also goes to the Ball of Souls. This is a place were all the lost souls meet, he and Mary have now both realised that they love each other and have not told each other. The problem they have is that she is dead and he isn’t, still it doesn’t stop them feeling the way they do.

After helping everyone except Mary who had decided to stay and help others in the future, she takes him back to The Strand and walks him to the ticket office to say goodbye for the last time. Things though do not happen that way for them, after he’d picked the door lock to get out.
Mary and Mark confess their love for each other and as they kiss the door bursts open and they are forced out in to the open. He has no idea what will happen to Mary and expects her to shrivel up or something, and they met up with an old friend again.
Mark while in each time has sex with one or more women, he believes its okay and looks upon it as a payment for his help. He doesn’t think it will change anything in his time, how wrong can one person be. After leaving the station they head for his Nans where Tiffany is now living, while there they go through an old photo album. Mark for the first time sees a picture of his Nan and mum when they were young and makes a frightening discovery. He had slept with both women.
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