Like many teen-age boys, Percy dreams of swashbuckling adventure. His imagination is filled with his grandfather's stories of the Scarlet Pimpernel. but Percy has a disability and despairs of ever becoming a hero. His grandfather points out that both Percy and the Pimpernel have one great weapon in common: a brilliant mind. Percy's friend Margaret has a visual impairment and, like Percy, often falls prey to the school bully, Trevor. But Trevor has a secret challenge of his own.

Percy finds himself beset by problems at every turn. He must provide Trevor with homework, rescue Margaret from a fate worse than detention, and somehow find and retrieve a priceless copy of the Scarlet Pimpernel before a two-ton wrecking ball destroys the old house in which it's hidden. Percy will need all his wits and all his friends to succeed...and he has less than 24 hours!