Shown from the perspective of a young submariner with unusually sensitive hearing and uncannily precise sound recognition. The fate of many often depends on his ability, and one time, whilst highly stressed, he makes a incorrect call which put his entire crew in mortal danger. Trying to regain the confidence of his comrades, he conducts an unauthorised investigation of an apparent plot which, it turns out, risks escalating into a nuclear apocalypse. Suddenly working under pressure with the fleet admiral, they must do whatever is necessary, even the unthinkable, to prevent a nuclear war, since a confirmed nuclear strike order cannot be countermanded.

Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.

A murder inside the Louvre, and clues in Da Vinci paintings, lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years, which could shake the foundations of Christianity.