Steed impersonates Riordan, a forger soon to be released from prison, and gains the trust of gang-leader Hooper. Things seem to be going well until Hooper's second-in-command, known as the Cardinal, announces that Riordan's girlfriend is outside waiting to see him.

Christmas. Steed is having bad, seemingly prophetic, dreams, involving festive themes and a dead agent. Can he find solace at a fancy-dress party in the country home of a Dickens enthusiast?

The sudden deaths of several of Steed's former army colleagues are revealed to be part of an elaborate engine of destruction, devised by a man court-martialled by them all. And now he is playing a deadly game.