A desperate call for help from a stricken archaeological expedition brings Dirk Pitt to a sacred well high in the Andes. What he discovers as he attempts to rescue two divers lost in the perilous depths leads him into deadly confrontation with a band of ruthless art-thieves who plunder ancient sites for their precious artefacts.

Dirk Pitt's extraordinary adventures take him to the fabled Lost City of the Dead lead him in search of a Spanish galleon washed miles inland by a giant tidal wave centuries before and eventually set him on the trail of a fabulous hoard of Inca gold. But Pitt will need all his skills and tenacity simply to survive as he races to track down the sacred site before the richest prize known to man is lost to the world forever...