Those in the know regard Maxwell Odom as one of the nation's top crime scene investigators. The ugliness his job has forced him to see has made Maxwell cynical and unpleasant. In late 2006, he travels to Jerusalem to deliver a keynote address to the Association of Israeli Police and to lead a hands-on training seminar. While napping in his suite in the Jerusalem Hotel, he is jarred awake by the phone. The front desk tells him that his driver has arrived. As he steps out to meet his driver, he finds he has been miraculously transported to ancient Jerusalem in the days following Jesus' execution.

His guide, Yoshua, informs Odom that a crime has been committed and that his expertise is needed. According to Yoshua, the only way for Odom to return to his own time is by solving a historical crime - a conspiracy of the many to kill the one. Over the next few days, Odom travels from the Upper Room to the Tomb of Christ attempting to run a modern forensics investigation in the first century. Each step of the way, he evaluates the scene, reconstructing the long trail of multiple crimes. As he works, he must look at his own beliefs, attitudes, and life. Along the way he meets people who have known Jesus and he begins to see what had only been to him an archaic hiccup in history in a new light. In the end, Odom and the reader come to understand Christ and His death in a personal way.