Stuart Adams, a moderately successful novelist, wants to write the big book that will make him rich. A serendipitous encounter with aging eccentric Wes Barnes may provide a ticket to the wealth he seeks. Barnes has been on a decades-long search for an ancient scroll believed to contain knowledge that could have a profound impact on global consciousness. He hires Adams to chronicle the expedition and publicize the scroll's contents-if they can find it. The assignment sets Adams and Dr. Niki Mikos, a fiery Greek archeologist, on a perilous journey to the Mediterranean and an exploding volcano that may hold the prize they seek. Along the way he is dogged by strong memories of a place he has never been. His confusion grows when a Pialigarian priestess tells him it is his destiny to undergo a ritual involving a deadly labyrinth. If he succeeds, she says, the planet will become "sweet with the fragrance of peace." If he fails, he will lose his life. Her suggestion is nonsense, of course—superstitious mumbo jumbo that has nothing to do with his destiny.
Or so he thinks.