A computer hacker penetrates Vatican security and sends an urgent anonymous plea to the pope. Handsome Father Quart, of the church's Institute of External Affairs, an arm of the Vatican intelligence, is dispatched to investigate. The message of the hacker concerns a crumbling 17th century Baroque church in the heart of Seville that apparently "kills to defend itself".

Normandy, France, June 1944, during World War II. Paratrooper Carlton Pilecki, lost behind enemy lines, tries to rejoin his comrades.