It’s been more than thirty years since New York City medical examiner Jack Stapleton’s college graduation and almost as long since he’s been in touch with former classmates Shawn Doherty and Kevin Murray. Once a highly regarded ophthalmologist, Jack’s career took a dramatic turn after a tragic accident that destroyed his family. But that, too, is very much in the past: Jack has remarried_to long-time colleague and fellow medical examiner Laurie Montgomery_ and is the father of a young child. A post-mortem on a young college student who had recently been treated by a chiropractor, leads Jack to investigate alternative medicine. What makes some people step outside the medical establishment to seek care from practitioners of Eastern philosophies and even faith healers? Jack’s classmate Shawn Doherty is now a renowned archaeologist and biblical scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. He has recently obtained permission for a final dig beneath Saint Peter’s in Rome_despite a long-standing grudge against the Catholic Church_and has made a startling discovery with huge ecclesiastical and medical implications.