When Verity falls down a hole and finds a smart-alecky shape-shifting sword named Jasper, she naturally figures that's as weird as her day will get. Wrong! Verity and Jasper (disguised as an old tin cup) are forced to flee Ford's Theatre and Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1862, pursued by demons and assassins sent by the Honourable Merchantry, a corporation of sorcerers that secretly controls the world. It aims to possess the goofy pun-loving blade and the magical stone that powers it, before the reluctant Verity can master her new powers and overthrow the Merchantry.