Bruce, Dick and Damien all deal with the mystery of a murdered time-traveling scientist, with each seeing their own clues from the POV of their time. Bruce sets things in motion when he and Robin take down the Rogues gallery in a tale set when they were just starting to leave their Silver age trappings and embrace their darker personas.

In the present on the anniversary of Thomas and Martha's deaths, Dick and Damien uphold the tradition of "No Crime in Crime Alley Tonight", leading them to a run-in with Hatman trying to sell off Joker's "Joke Book" from the previous story and the murder of the scientist in a locked room.

In the future Damien is in a race against time to save a Gotham doused in Joker venom by 2-Face-2 and rescue a kidnapped boy while he's at it. Things get more complicated when the Joke Book and two different versions of the scientist come into play. Damien eventually saves the boy, who happens to be an infant Terry McGuiness.

In the four future epilogues, Terry (Batman Beyond), Batman 1,000,000 and two other future Batmen each continue to carry forward the mantle of the bat, showing there will always be a need for the Batman.