The plot is set in motion when a red-haired pawnbroker named Jabez Wilson asks Sherlock Holmes to investigate the sudden disappearance of a society called the Red-Headed League. For two months, the Red-Haired League paid Wilson well for doing very little work. Jabez Wilson is primarily concerned with the loss of a lucrative second income but also suspects that a prank of some kind may have been played upon him. Holmes, however, believes that the prank may be part of a plan for a much more serious crime.