The Sudarium of Oviedo, the cloth said once to have covered Christ's face on the cross, was stolen from the Spanish cathedral housing it. In the wake of its disappearance, several people are horribly murdered, each in the manner of a different execution of an Apostle. Samuel Tolen joins a Spanish inspector and a British archaelogist to find the relic and solve the killings. What they learn along the way may change history.