The story takes place across four principal locations: the Forbidden City in Persia, a Khmer temple in Angkor Thom, Oublié Cathedral in Amiens, France, and the Roivas Family Estate in Rhode Island, which also leads to the ancient underground city of Ehn’gha beneath the mansion. Each location is revisited in a different time period, spanning from 26 BC to 2000 AD.

The chapters are not presented in chronological order. Instead, they jump around the timeline to create a more dramatic narrative, while still following chronological order within each location.

In 2000 AD, Alexandra Roivas returns to her family’s estate after her grandfather Edward Roivas is found murdered. Two weeks later, with the police having made no progress, she investigates the mansion, finds a secret room, and discovers the Tome of Eternal Darkness, a book bound with human skin that contains accounts of people from the past.