In 529 A.D. Cybele and Diana are the Thelma and Louise of Rome. Both are on the lam to Constantinople, Cybele from her life as a prostitute, and Diana, a socialite, from being framed for the murder of her groom on their wedding night. Despite their contrasting social status, they forge a lasting friendship, ultimately one sacrificing her life to save the other, burying her in a sarcophagus in a burial cave.

Dr. Chloe Anderson is head of an archaeology team excavating the Byzantine burial cave in present day Istanbul, Turkey. Traveling with her pregnant archaeologist sister, she meets two young archaeologists, one the head of the Turkish team, and the other a contract archaeologist, both of whom compete for her romantic attention. But when the sarcophagus is removed, misfortunes surround her team, including her sister and one of the two archaeologists, who become gravely ill. Chloe, certain that she's caused these catastrophes by unearthing the tomb, scrambles to replace missing items taken from the sarcophagus in hopes of saving their lives.