A day worker steals 3 ancient scrolls from a secret archaeological dig in the paw of The Sphinx and sells them on the black market. They accidentally fall into the hands of an American professor, who first thinks they are forgeries and then begins to translate them, revealing a history, a civilization, and a drama never before known. Professor Lichtenstein and his colleague Tony Nakamichi, who is adapting the translation for a novel, are threatened not only for what the scrolls reveal, but also for another value that no one understands.
The story, thousands of years older than recorded history, has its own 500-year history that unexpectedly intertwines with the lives of the contemporary scholars that are trying to bring it to light.