The members of the Torchwood Institute, a secret organization founded by the British Crown, fight to protect the Earth from extraterrestrial and supernatural threats.

Captain Jack Harkness, the former Time Agent and con man from the 51st century last seen traveling with The Doctor, ventures to early 21st-century Cardiff. There, he becomes a member of Torchwood Institute, a renegade criminal investigation group founded by Queen Victoria to battle hostile extraterrestrial and supernatural threats.—rmlohner