The Sliders arrive on a world where the government forces everyone to work at maximum efficiency, and sends "fractures" who break from the stress to theme parks where they are brainwashed into role-playing fictional characters. When a grumpy Arturo is diagnosed as a fracture, he is sent to one such park and brainwashed to play a 19th century detective on the trail of Jack the Ripper.
In his basement in San Francisco, boy-genius Quinn Mallory unlocks the doorway to an infinite number of Earths. During a test run, Quinn invites co-worker Wade Wells and his teacher Professor Maximillian Arturo to see his new invention. But an increase in power and an early departure leave all three, plus a washed-up soul singer named Rembrandt "Crying Man" Brown, lost in a parallel world. Now they must "slide" from world to world, not only adapting to their changing surroundings, but also trying to get back to their world. Will they ever make it home?