Archaeologist Daniel Canon aboard his research vessel Argo is caught in a catastrophic storm, leaving him stranded in the Greek port of Piraeus. While repairs are carried out, Canon receives an invitation from an unexpected quarter to lecture at Sapienza university in Rome.
Tragedy strikes when Canon's mentor and fellow archaeologist Professor Felix Stone's daughter, Laura, is brutally murdered, her body desecrated and dumped in a grotesque part of ancient Rome. Detective Chief Inspector Carlos Mazarolli is assigned the case and dismisses the murder as a 'drug deal gone wrong'. But Canon, present at Laura's gut-wrenching autopsy finds that her murder is anything but a simple 'drug deal gone wrong.'