When the body of an American archaeologist is found floating in the Yangzi River, Ministry of Public Security agent Liu Hulan and her husband, American attorney David Stark, are dispatched to Site 518 to investigate. As Hulan scrutinizes his death, David, on behalf of the National Relics Bureau, tries to discover who has stolen from the site an artifact that may prove to the world China's claim that it is the oldest uninterrupted civilization on earth.