The Vatican has lost its most closely held secret - a secret whose exposure could shatter the very foundations of Western religion, shift world power and ignite religious violence the likes of which the world has not seen for centuries. The secret? Irrefutable proof of a female Messiah named Sophia. Born in the Holy Land in 310 AD, Sophia was known for performing healing miracles. Her divinity so threatened early Christian dogma on the inferiority of women that she was executed by Church authorities. In the present, Zoe Ridgeway, an art broker, visits Switzerland with her husband Seth, where she expects to purchase the estate of a German art collector. But before Zoe can complete the transaction, she and Seth are drawn into a thousand year-old web of conspiracy, murder and intrigue that begins and ends with the mystery of Sophia - and all the powerful forces who seek to protect their patriarchs from a divinely feminine truth.