Among ancient Greek ruins in the mysterious Valley of the Temples in the south of Sicily, a series of stone carvings inscribed with advanced scientific formulae has been found. A small group of well-intentioned scholars tries to interpret the archaic messages, but are threatened by an unknown enemy who is determined to thwart them.
Leo Castella is drawn to the island after his father, a member of the research panel, is assaulted on the streets of Palermo and remains in a coma. Together with a cousin who is a Cistercian monk, Leo discovers apparatus built by an ancient sage and long hidden in a chamber beneath a temple. They learn that the most valuable benefit available to the world is a free, inexhaustible supply of energy that has its source in cosmic rays.
The characters grapple with the moral issues of power and financial gain, ownership and the possible misuse of the newfound energy in the wrong hands. Ultimately, more information is unearthed which suggests that their unique source of power has far greater potential then they ever imagined.