In which we are introduced to the somewhat mysterious Mr Ralph Nickleby, a man of considerable wealth and peculiar habits, residing amidst the lively and somewhat dilapidated environs of Golden Square, alongside his peculiar clerk, Noggs. We then accompany Mr Nickleby to a bustling public meeting advocating a grand scheme to reform and monopolise the metropolitan muffin trade, where speeches and resolutions abound with patriotic fervour and profit-minded enthusiasm.