In the silent caves of deepest France, young archaeologist Julia Kerrigan unearths an ancient skull, with a hole bored through the forehead. After she reveals her discovery, her colleague is killed in suspicious circumstances. Meanwhile, in the jungles of south-east Asia photographer Jake Thurby is offered a curious assignment by a beautiful and determined Cambodian lawyer who is investigating finds at the mysterious 2000-year-old Plain of Jars. Finds which the authorities have gone to great lengths to keep secret. No one knows why. Back in England, an aged professor has been brutally and elaborately murdered. The murder remains unsolved. As the archaeologist, lawyer and photographer pursue their separate quests to discover the truth, an underlying pattern begins to emerge, which connects these far-flung events in the most terrifying and unimaginable way. And it soon becomes clear that those who seek to unlock the compelling puzzle will be risking very much more than their lives.