"Almost 800 years ago, a group of families flee the oppression of the Church, following a charismatic leader on a pilgrimage to what he has promised is a realm far to the east where they can live in peace, free to worship as they please. But as they near their destination, something goes horribly wrong. And when Archaeology Professor James Acton is invited to India by a US Senator to attend the opening of a new state-of-the-art communications facility near the Chinese border, he is eager to accept when he is informed of his true purpose—to act as guide to the senator, an archaeology buff who intends to visit the nearby Lake of Bones, an unsolved mystery that has baffled scientists for decades."