Early 19th-century Istanbul. When French archeologist Maximilien LefÔevre begins asking very pointed, well-informed questions about long-lost Greek artifacts and then is found dead outside the French embassy, Yashim, a Turkish eunuch, finds himself suspected of the murder. His efforts to clear his name take him from markets and wharves to palaces and underground tunnels as he uncovers a secret society, unearths sacred relics, and hunts the murderer.