When Philip Courtney leaves Oxford University to begin his quiet life as Lord of Courtney Manor, he doesn't expect his old roommate John Jefferson to show up with an unusual request...John and Philip, joined by Philip's half-brother Ray Barone, begin working together to perfect a newly invented machine that allows people to travel through time back to their past - the Dream Machine. However, the machine turns out to be more than Philip bargains for as the inventor of the machine's body is soon found in the River Thames. This is the first of many deaths that will haunt the three men as they run from those who want the machine for devious purposes. As Philip embarks on an adventure of a lifetime, he is forced to wonder whether it really is 'A Dream Machine to Die For'.