Peter Lake, a master thief from the New York of the 1890's, breaks into a house on the upper east side and meets and falls in love with the beautiful, but doomed Beverly Penn. Maddened by grief over her loss, and tormented by a gang of short-tail coated thugs, Peter is driven to the streets of the city on the back of his horse Athansor (who may just be able to fly) in a desperate attempt to "stop time and bring back the dead".