Victoria and Basil are excitedly preparing Pendywick Place for the first Christmas the Collingwood family will be spending at home, as well as dreaming about their upcoming wedding. Even more exciting, a Professor Churchill wishes to commission a new language from Victoria for his classroom. However, it is entirely possible that Churchill may not be what he seems. And when the treacherous professor Winchester's former household staff reveal that their master was in dire financial straits before he died, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson take the case, striving to find out if there was indeed a completely different mastermind behind the terrible disaster that befell Victoria nearly one year ago...