Doug Cassidy is a university professor of archeology specializing in the Inca of Peru. Unfortunately he suffers from acrophobia and cannot fly requiring him to collaborate with an adventurer named Karlin Mulrey who finds the antiquities for him to verify. Now Mulrey has been murdered and Douglas has to identify his body. In the process he uncovers a complicated plot to steal one of the world's most sought after treasures. He also discovers a Paiute woman named Emily Howell a Harvard trained doctor whom he befriends. Before long the two find themselves in a nest of intrigue eventually forcing both to fly to Peru to connect with Doug's friend Mulrey who has turned up alive. Together they go in search of the famed but lost thirteen mummies of the Inca kings. Legend has it that anyone who discovers them will find the lost power of the Inca a magical knowledge which can conquer the world.

Along the way Doug finds himself facing a deadly enemy and a memory from his youth either of which he may not survive.