Parliamentary librarian, Esther Hammerhans, put an ad in the newspaper for a renter. She wanted company, someone to help divert her attention from the looming date of her husband’s suicide two years before. What she got was a massive black dog that calls himself Mr. Chartwell. He has business in the city and needs a room to be close to his client—Winston Churchill. Black Pat also has business with Esther, but she does not know it yet.