When Charlie Paczynski's raven-haired partner is caught in the crossfire of a blackmail scheme gone bad, he trails the prime suspect to the brink of Niagara, only to receive a cryptic warning. Thrust into a world populated by a whiskey-swilling storyteller, strangely bonded siblings, and a dubious government agent, Paczynski joins the quest for a long-lost design by enigmatic genius, Nikola Tesla.