"Lest into the Dharma you unchain
An uncleanness of evil and pain,
And darkness about darkness wheel,
The Agozyen you must not unseal."

A remote monastery in Tibet.
An ancient warning.
A mysterious stolen artifact with the power to wreak vengeance upon the world.
Will Pendergast be able to solve the riddle and shine light onto mystery and darkness?

Pendergast has taken Constance Greene on a whirlwind Grand Tour, hoping to give her closure to recent unpleasant events, as well as a sense of the world that she's missed. They head to Tibet, where Pendergast intensively trained in martial arts and spiritual studies. At a remote monastery, they learn that a rare and dangerous artifact the monks have been guarding for generations has been mysteriously stolen. Pendergast agrees to take up the search.

The trail leads him and Constance to the maiden voyage of the Britannia, the world's largest and most luxurious passenger liner--and to an Atlantic crossing fraught with terror..