Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is recruited by the Vatican to investigate the apparent return of the Illuminati – a secret, underground organization – after four cardinals are kidnapped on the night of the papal conclave.

Exasperated at being stuck on a piano Rhapsody he's been writing for seven years, Sol pushes himself over the edge, having an hallucination of a mysterious young woman. Soon, Sol discovers that he has brain tumors, and a risky operation is his only means of survival. Initially deciding to go through with the surgery, things change when he meets Sofia, the woman from his vision. She urges Sol not to have the operation because the tumors aren't what they seem. Unable to fathom her strange appearance, he starts out to discover the nature of these events - unearthing what The Rhapsody really is.