Nineteenth-century New York was hardly the place for Alexander Collier, a ne'er do-well actor and ex-con, to make a living. So, teaming up with the so-called "Mad Monk" for a safe home and a little chicanery seemed a necessary compromise if he was going to survive.

Alexander joins Brother Sebastian—a renegade Trappist monk-cum-spiritualist—in his crusade to protect the religious treasures of history from private greed. Brother Sebastian uses his "powers" as a heavenly medium to trick Robber Barons and wealthy members of society into doing good and turning over priceless artifacts. But where guile does not suffice, a little housebreaking, pickpocketing, and theft by the monk's misfit crew of servants and rogues can turn the tide—at least until treachery leads to a Christmas murder and an unexpected romance.