Sacred Hunger covers a period between 1752 and 1765. It concerns the entangled and conflicting fortunes of two cousins: Erasmus Kemp, the son of a Lancashire merchant, and Matthew Paris, a scholar and surgeon just released from prison.
Irish fiddler Sullivan escapes from prison after being implicated in the loss of Erasmus Kemp's slave ship, only to reencounter his nemesis in a struggle that pits Kemp's desire for wealth against Sullivan's advocacy for the disadvantaged.