Dashing detective William Murdoch must solve a holiday whodunit in this feature-length special of the award-winning mystery series set in Edwardian Toronto. Days before Christmas, Murdoch and his wife, Dr. Julia Ogden, travel to Victoria, British Columbia, to spend time with Murdoch's eccentric brother. But instead of a relaxing holiday with Jasper and his family, they end up investigating a murder at an archaeological site.

A middle-aged journalist and his wife invite a footloose young hitch-hiker aboard their sail-boat for a Sunday outing in the Polish lake district. Like two peacocks, the men proceed to flaunt their virility before the woman, revealing a cynical sadism on the part of the husband and a growing resentment in the knife-wielding youth.