In late twelfth-century England, a thirteen-year-old boy named Arthur recounts how Merlin gave him a magical seeing stone which showed him images of the legendary King Arthur, the events of whose life seem to have many parallels to his own.
In Richmond, Virginia, young lovers are dying. So far, four couples in the area have disappeared, only to be found months later as mutilated corpses. When the daughter of the president's newest drug czar vanishes along with her boyfriend, Dr Kay Scarpetta knows time is short. Following a macabre trail of evidence that ties the present homicides to a grisly crime in the past, Kay must draw upon her own personal resources...