Sherlock Holmes is as dashing as ever, but with a little secret: Dr. Watson is the brains behind the operation. When Reginald Kincaid, the actor he has hired to play Holmes becomes insufferable, Watson fires him and tries to go out on his own, but finds that he has done too good a job building Holmes up in the public's mind.
Three years on from Holmes's fatal fall into the Reichenbach Falls, Watson wrestles with a murder case under his own steam. But who is the enigmatic stranger in the Coroner's court, listening intently to all the evidence? Holmes returns home and explains how he escaped death at Reichenbach, while Moriarty lost his life. Holmes and Watson must now bring a partner of Moriarty's to justice, by proving he is a murderer.