In A.D. 325, Brother Barnabas is a student of the ancient holy texts, books that paint a portrait of Jesus that is radical, heretical, and irresistible. In them, Barnabas finds clues to a secret he must protect at all costs. But the Ecumenical Council of Bishops has just declared his cherished books 'a hotbed of manifold perversity', and decreed that the documents must be burned and that anyone found copying them will be executed. When Barnabas' monastery is attacked, he flees with his trusted companions. But the True Church cannot allow them to find the most sacred place on Earth. In fact, it will do anything to stop them...