Luc Simard is an archaeologist with a flawless academic career. When a book dating to the fourteenth century is found after a fire in a monastery in France, Luc's old friend Hugo calls him in to decipher the mysterious illustrations that dot the coded manuscript. What Luc and Hugo find is a map that leads them to a chambered cave and the discovery of a lifetime. The secret of the caves lies in the manuscript's coded pages, but it's a secret that someone is willing to kill to protect.