In 1840, the theatre world in London is shocked by the brutal killing of one of its youngest and most successful entrepreneurs. Inspector Owen Endersby, of the recently formed London Detective Police Force, is called upon to apprehend the culprit before Christmas Eve, in just six days. Without the techniques of the modern-day detective, Inspector Endersby must root out the villain any way he canby disguise, break-and-enter, bribery, mail tampering and physical force.