In 1885, Lord Richard Marbury, a liberal stalwart in Parliament, sends his young daughter Alicia to Brighton to spend her vacation with his old professor, The Reverend Charles Dodgson. Alicia, however, is kidnapped from the train platform in Brighton by her father's political enemies. A chance meeting with a young doctor on his honeymoon, one Arthur Conan Doyle, results in this unlikely duo working to rescue Alicia from a most unpleasant fate.

In 1885, a retired sea captain in Portsmouth dies suddenly and, according to the newly married Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle, mysteriously. Shortly after his death, an emissary of the Rajah of Rajitpor arrives at the dead man's door, seeking information about a stolen treasure. With his visiting friend, the Reverend Charles Dodgson, Doyle attends a seance where a spiritualist intends to contact the dead man, revealing the secret behind his death and the missing treasure. But in the midst of it, the spiritualist dies with the word "murder" on her lips. Now Doyle, with the help of his friend, must find the murderer.

In the winter of 1888, Reverend Charles Dodgson of Christ Church at Oxford - better known to the world as author Lewis Carroll - brings to his new found friend Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle to London to introduce him to editors potentially interested in Doyle's writing. Their first stop is the offices of a weekly magazine, Youth's Companion, arriving in time to find the place in an uproar - the staff is upset, the printers in a rage, and the editor is busy violently rejecting the work of up-and-coming Irish writer Oscar Wilde. Dr. Doyle fares no better with the foul-tempered, duplicitous and mean editor - Samuel Bassett and the duo depart. Shortly thereafter, in full sight of the duo, Bassett is murdered outside of magazine's offices. Due to the heavy snowstorm, neither Dodgson nor Doyle can identify his attacker but they are on hand to hear Bassett's final gasp. With the Labor Riots raging in the streets, and unrest in the air, the police immediately assume that Wilde, a socialist, is responsible and set about trying to find him. But, believing that Wilde is innocent, Dodgson and Doyle, set about to find out the truth behind the vicious attack. In a quest that takes them from the most prestigious literary and art circles in Victorian London to the lowest dives of ill repute, the unlikely duo seek to unmask a killer before he strikes again.

It is May 1886 and all is not well at Christ Church, Oxford. The curator of Christ Church, the Reverend Mr. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (better known as the author Lewis Carroll), is expecting a visit from Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle - an acquaintance and would-be writer - and his wife when he learns of a series of troubling events. The wine cellar seems to have mysteriously become depleted, while some of the students and faculty have begun complaining that many small personal items - items of value - have begun disappearing from their rooms. Over at Lady Margaret Hall, one of the female students finds herself the subject of blackmail, with a photo taken of her as a child by Mr. Dodgson the object. And Lord Nevil Farlow, pressed by gambling debts and in financial difficulty, finds himself contemplating a desperate maneuver to come about. In the midst of all of this is Ingram, an insolent scout, whom Dodgson believes has been going through his things in his room and fires after a public disagreement witnessed by half the college. So that evening, when Dr. Dodgson discovers the murdered body of Ingram on the grounds, the only suspect for miles around is Dodgson himself. Now it is up to Doyle, with Dodgson's help, to find out how these various disturbances are related and uncover the truth about Ingram's murder before disgrace, or worse, lands at Dodgson's feet.