The year is 1879, and Alan Lambert has been tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang for the murder of a dazzling opera star and her lover. But Lambert's brother believes that Alan is innocent and pleads with Dr. Joseph Bell, a celebrated professor of anatomy, to uncover the truth. Dr. Bell agrees and sets out to crack the case - with his keen powers of deduction and the help of his young student, Arthur Conan Doyle. Together, Bell and Doyle embark on a race against the hangman with Lambert's cries of innocence ringing in their ears.