History can be a powerful and ruthless enemy. Taras Petrenko, an ambitious lieutenant of the Russian Security Service, is sieving through the Moscow archives of Stalin's regime when he stumbles over file N1247 — a case first opened by the Russian secret police two centuries earlier. He realises that three crucial documents are missing which could, if found, alter the political balance of Europe. One country would come crashing down. A second country would never forgive the discovery, and a third would never forget. Taras is determined not let this happen — but there are others who believe it should. In London, Kate, a young British solicitor, meets a secretive Ukrainian holding three documents he claims could change the lives of millions of people. Kate finds herself unwillingly thrust into the mystery of an unexpected bequest made in the eighteenth century, which becomes a harrowing and dangerous journey into the shadowy side of power.