Egypt, November 1922. As the world’s attention turns to the Valley of the Kings and Howard Carter’s frantic search for a royal tomb, Layla Amin, a brilliant Egyptian epigrapher working for the Cairo Museum, discovers a different kind of secret. She intercepts a forged shipping manifest meant for London, uncovering a ring of British aristocrats stealing undocumented antiquities right out from under the authorities’ noses. Determined to protect her country’s heritage, Layla travels to Luxor, teaming up with an idealistic Scottish photographer, Arthur Sterling, who has inadvertently captured the smugglers on film. Together, they must navigate the treacherous, sun-baked landscape of the Theban Necropolis, outwit a ruthless English lord, and intercept a massive shipment of stolen gold before it disappears down the Nile forever.