On a dusty Alexandrian street, Egyptologist Daniel Knox comes across a Dead Sea Scroll jar that puts him on the trail of an ancient Jewish sect. But blood-and-thunder preacher Ernest Peterson has a sacred mission to complete, and he’s not about to let Knox or anyone else get in his way.
Then Knox’s partner Gaille Bonnard is abducted, and a hostage tape threatens her with execution. Knox is certain she’s hidden a message in the broadcast, but he can't convince the authorities, not least because they now suspect him of murder. With time running out for Gaille, Knox flees custody and races across Egypt to the mysterious ancient city of Amarna and the tomb of a heretic pharaoh that may just provide the answer to the great riddle of the Exodus itself.