The game begins in the present day, when Carmen Sandiego breaks into ACME Timenet headquarters in San Francisco and steals a time travel device called the ACME Chronoskimmer. Carmen sends her V.I.L.E. villains to travel through time and steal historical treasures, thereby altering the course of history. She also provides them with a note detailing where to hide before she picks them up. After the theft, the Chief greets the player and explains the importance of recovering the device and restoring history, as well as the Chronoskimmer's safeguard mechanic of leaving time tunnels behind. The Chief sends the player on a series of missions to stop Carmen and her crooks. After the ninth case is solved and all the crooks are incarcerated, Carmen Sandiego uses the Chronoskimmer to bail them out and commit more thefts in history. After reinforcing the prison, the Chief sends the player to recapture the crooks and catch Carmen once and for all. After the player finishes recapturing the crooks and restoring history, Carmen Sandiego lets the player retrieve the Chronoskimmer then goes through time, until she returns to the present to steal her personal dossier from ACME HQ. After a chase by all five Good Guides, Carmen Sandeigo is caught and incarcerated. Once the player is successful, the Chief lets them in on top secret information: Carmen Sandiego was once an ACME agent but felt the challenge of catching crooks was too easy so she became a villain to outsmart her former colleagues. She aimed to delete a detailed dossier about her transition, which is thematically linked to her desire to delete the memory of history's greatest figures and achievements (dubbed "Project: History Sweep"), under the pretense of simply "stealing history's greatest treasures." Though unstated in the game, it is implied that Carmen Sandiego only ordered her henchmen to steal these items as a decoy to ensure the ACME headquarters was completely empty while all agents were cleaning up her trail of historical messes. The only live-action role in the game was that of The Chief, played by Lynne Thigpen. All other roles were performed as voice-overs. Brenda Burke, who played Carmen Sandiego on the game show's second season, voiced the character in the game. Although most of the voice actors in the game only play one character, some performed multiple roles in different cases. For example, Charles Martinet plays both William Shakespeare and Ludwig van Beethoven.