The adventure begins when Harvard professor Robert Langdon receives a late-night call while on business in Paris. The elderly curator of the Louvre, Jacques Sauniere, has been found murdered. But before he died he managed to scrawl a series of codes and clues in his own blood. While working to solve the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci—clues visible for all to see—yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Langdon joins forces with French cryptographer Sophie Neveu in a race to discover why the curator was murdered. And they are not alone. On their heels are a priest and his powerful servant from a controversial and clandestine Catholic sect, who are willing to stop at nothing to protect a secret older than the Church itself. But, what is the secret so potent it could topple the Vatican? And will Langdon and Sophie live long enough to find out?