n to the United States as President Theodore Roosevelt's guests at the Saint Louis World's Fair. The year is 1904, and America is at a tipping point in a national debate about the country's future as a Pacific power. The President's support for a new Asian strategy makes him a very public target, and Holmes and Watson are soon entangled in a plot (two plots, in fact) to assassinate the President. They are also asked for help by "the woman" - Irene Adler - an American opera singer who matched wits with Holmes in a previous adventure. The danger increases when Holmes and Watson arrive at the World's Fair. As part of his campaign to convince the American people to support the occupation of the Philippines, the President has brought 1200 Filipino natives to the Fair and placed them in a compound as an exhibit. When the Filipinos begin to disappear from the compound Holmes and Watson follow the clues, to an enemy who threatens the entire nation