When the founder of the California missions, Junipero Serra, has his heart cut out the day of his death in 1784, it is stuck in a ceramic jar, rode off on horseback. Within the day, it is lost and for the next two hundred years the heart, floating in brandy, is handed from owner to owner until it ends up at the El Fornio Historical Society in modern day California. During the annual Old Spanish Days festival, the heart is stolen and curator Hank Peabody, Jr., and his "cousin" Janet Librado are called to action with their band of misfit friends to find the thief of the heart and set things right. "Whoever controls the heart" Janet reminds Hank, "Controls history." Hank, however, is not so sure. He has his own heart to find.