Archaeologist Arnold Landon's attendance at a conference in Rome leads him into the world of professional grave robbers, when he stumbles upon a revenge killing in the Etruscan city of the dead. Back in less glamorous Northumberland, DCI O'Connor has his own problems, investigating an international smuggling ring in ancient artifacts. The paths of the two men converge when a professional killer arrives to continue the blood feud begun in Italy. For Landon and O'Connor the solution seems to lie in the whereabouts of a missing antiques dealer.
