New York City, 1891. In the spirit of Christmas, Mrs. Pamela Thompson has devoted herself to charity work, even taking an orphaned child into her Greenwich Village townhome. Her husband Jack, an ambitious banker, agrees to such generous acts as long as his wife allows him to invest his time-- and her trust fund-- in more lucrative opportunities. But when he risks their entire fortune on questionable copper stocks, Pamela ends up losing everything: her house, her inheritance, and even her husband. Penniless, Pamela is forced to move into a boarding house in the Lower East Side and accept a position at Macy's-- as a store detective. Displaying an uncanny knack for the job, she's asked to investigate a private matter of thievery at a palatial 'cottage' in the Berkshires. Ironically, her employer is none other than Henry Jennings, the infamous 'Copper King' who sold bad stocks to her husband. But when the filthy rich scoundrel is found dead in his study, Pamela holds herself accountable-- for sorting out this whole sordid business of money, motives-- and murder.