Set in 1775-1780 in England and France, the novel tells the story of Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a drunken lawyer

Jerry Cruncher works at Tellson's Bank and delivers an urgent message to Jarvis Lorry to wait at Dover for a young woman, Lucie Manette

Lorry takes Lucie to Paris to see her father, Doctor Manette, who has been in the Bastille for 18 years and is now mad and spends all his time making shoes

Lorry believes that Lucie's love and devotion can bring Doctor Manette back to life, and it does

In 1780, Darnay is accused of treason against the English crown and acquitted with the help of Carton, who points out that he bears an uncanny resemblance to Darnay

The cruel Marquis Evrémonde runs over a peasant child with his carriage and shows no remorse; later that night, he is murdered and a note signed \"Jacques\" is left behind

Darnay renounces his identity as an Evrémonde and intends to return to England; he later asks Manette for permission to marry Lucie and reveals his true identity to him

Carton also declares his love for Lucie and admits that she has helped him dream of a better existence

Jerry Cruncher is involved in the funeral procession for a spy named Roger Cly and later demonstrates his skills as a \"Resurrection-Man\" by stealing and selling bodies from cemeteries

John Barsad, an English spy, visits Defarge's wine shop in Paris and Madame Defarge is knitting a secret registry of those the revolution plans to execute

Darnay marries Lucie and Manette relapses into his old prison habit of making shoes, but eventually regains his presence of mind and joins the newlyweds on their honeymoon

In 1789, the French Revolution begins and the peasants storm the Bastille; Gabelle, in charge of the Evrémonde estate, is imprisoned and writes to Darnay for rescue

Darnay goes to France and is arrested as an emigrant; Lucie and Manette go to defend him at his trial and he is acquitted

Madame Defarge plans to accuse Lucie and Manette of spying and to accuse Lucie's daughter as well, but Miss Pross and Madame Defarge fight and Miss Pross shoots Madame Defarge

Carton has a secret plan to help Darnay should he be convicted and threatens to expose Barsad as an English spy unless he cooperates; Barsad agrees to help

Lorry scolds Cruncher for grave-robbing and Cruncher offers to become a gravedigger to make up for it; Carton visits Darnay in his cell, drugs him, and switches clothes with him before going to his execution

The seamstress asks Carton if he is dying for Darnay and he replies, \"And his wife and child\"; Barsad delivers the real Darnay to Lorry, Lucie, and Manette and they flee Paris

In the final chapter, Lorry reflects on the events of the novel and the repeating patterns of history