Man vs Machineit is 1895 & Sherlock Holmes is settling back into life as a consulting detective at 221B Baker Street when he & Watson learn of strange goings-on amidst the dreaming spires of Oxford A Professor Quantock has built a wondrous computational device which he claims is capable of analytical thought to rival the cleverest men alive Naturally Sherlock Holmes cannot ignore this challenge He & Watson travel to Oxford where a battle of wits ensues between the great detective & his mechanical counterpart as they compete to see which of them can be first to solve a series of crimes from a bloody murder to a missing athlete But as man & machine vie for supremacy it becomes clear that the Thinking Engine has its own agenda