In post-revolution Paris an old man signs a letter in blood then hides it in a secret compartment in a sailor's chest. A messenger arrives to transport the chest and its hidden contents but then the plague strikes and an untimely death changes history.<br><br><br><br>Two hundred years later Hugo Marston is safeguarding an unpredictable but popular senator who is in Paris negotiating a France/U.S. dispute. The talks held at a country chateau collapse when the senator accuses someone of breaking into his room. Theft becomes the least of Hugo's concerns when someone discovers a sailor's chest and the secrets hidden within and decides that the power and money they promise are worth killing for.<br><br><br><br>But when the darkness of history is unleashed even the most ruthless and cunning are powerless to control it.