In the process of discussing with her husband the plot of her latest novel, mystery writer Lady Wimsey finds the solution to a real-life murder. The novel is an unfinished 1930s manuscript by British writer Sayers, completed by Walsh on the basis of the outline.

When a dispute among the fellows of St. Severin's College, Oxford University, reaches a stalemate, Lord Peter Wimsey discovers that as the duke of Denver he is "the Visitor"--Charged with the task of resolving the issue. It is time for Lord Peter and his detective novelist wife Harriet to revisit their beloved Oxford, where their long and literate courtship finally culminated in their engagement and marriage. At first the dispute seems a simple difference...