When Enola Holmes (Sherlock's teen sister) discovers her mother is missing, she endeavors to find her, becoming a super-sleuth in her own right as she outwits her famous brother and unravels a dangerous conspiracy.
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As the film opens, Enola Holmes rides her bicycle and narrates to the audience. She explains that her mother Eudoria, keen on word games, insisted on naming her Enola (a reverse of the word Alone) after her birth, and that following the early death of her father and subsequent departure of her elder brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock, her mother raised and educated her in their country home of Ferndell Hall. Eudoria raised Enola on many books, sciences, and sports, and encouraged a free and playful lifestyle, unlike the stuffy and traditional schools and expectations of Victorian England. Despite this usual closeness, Enola once accidentally interrupted a secret meeting between her mother and a group of other women, who hid their intentions from her. She goes on to explain that on the morning of her sixteenth birthday, Enola awoke to find her mother missing, leaving only a wooden gift box with a booklet on flowers, cards, and pencils as a birthday present passed on to her by their housekeeper, Mrs. Lane. Back in the present, Enola tells the audience that a week has passed since Eudoria's disappearance, and she is on the way to the train station to receive Mycroft, now a rich aristocrat working for the government, and Sherlock, now the famous detective. Upon their arrival, her brothers fail to recognize her at first, having not seen her since she was small. Mycroft is horrified that Enola is out in public without a hat or gloves, and dirty from having fallen off her bike on the way to the station. He is further annoyed to find that Enola has not brought the carriage he has been paying for, confusing Enola as they do not own a carriage. Sherlock hires one to take them to Ferndell, and upon their arrival, Mycroft balks at the state of the house. He tells Sherlock that he has been sending a great deal of money to Eudoria, who sent letters to him detailing the costs of the household, including rooms, members of household staff, and teachers for Enola, which do not exist. Sherlock investigates, and surmises that although Eudoria's absence is not foul play, she does not intend to return. Mycroft and Sherlock discuss what to do with their younger sister now that Eudoria is gone. Mycroft feels that Eudoria has robbed him, and saddled him with Enola. Sherlock thinks Enola should be allowed to stay at Ferndell, as Eudoria educated her on virtually every subject herself, and she seems to be very clever. However, Mycroft insists on sending her away to a strict boarding school so she may be turned into a proper lady, citing that she is his ward now, and Sherlock has shown little interest in the family. Mycroft sends for Miss Harrison of Miss Harrison's Finishing School for Young Ladies, and Enola's free spirit and defiant attitude gains her a slap from the headmistress. Enola begs not to be sent away, but Mycroft is adamant, and Sherlock refuses to help. That evening, Sherlock finds Enola sketching and recounts the only memories he has of her, including a pine cone wrapped in wool she called Dash, after one of Queen Victoria's dogs. Enola chastises Sherlock for never visiting or writing home, telling him she has followed every one of his cases. Sherlock sees Eudoria's vanishing as an interesting mystery to be solved, and tells Enola to look for what's already in front of her. That night, Enola finds a secret coded message from her mother in the gift box she left. She decodes it and follows the clues in her booklet to a hidden envelope filled with money addressed to her, with the only note saying: "Our future is up to us." Enola decides to run away to search for her mother, dressing as a boy and boarding a train bound for London. A rich family is at the station, frantically looking for someone. Enola notices a latecomer on the train wearing a brown bowler hat who gives a signal to someone on the platform. The train leaves and is well on it's way when a boy Enola's age pops out of a large travel bag in her compartment. Enola deduces that this is the boy the family at the station was looking for, and he introduces himself has the Viscount Tewkesbury, Marquis of Basilweather, and says that he is running away. Enola tells him of the man in the bowler hat who she has also deduced has been sent to look for him. Sure enough, the Bowler Hat man is approaching their carriage, and Enola leaves, not wanting to get involved, as the man passes her and finds Tewkesbury. She hears the boy scream, and returns to find the man holding him outside the train door, about to smash him into a tunnel wall. Enola attacks the man, Linthorn, and saves Tewkesbury, jumping off the train just before a bridge to strand the attempted murderer.
