William Murdoch is a detective in Toronto in 1895, using new forensic techniques like fingerprinting and psychological profiling. He crosses paths with famous figures including Arthur Conan Doyle, and H.G. Wells.

When filthy-rich video store magnate Johnny Rose, his soap star wife Moira and their two kids -- über-hipster son David and socialite daughter Alexis -- suddenly find themselves broke, they are forced to leave their pampered lives to regroup and rebuild their empire from within the rural city limits of their only remaining asset - Schitt's Creek, an armpit of a town they once bought as a joke.