Dr. Tom Carter - surgeon, geneticist, husband, father - is riding high. He has invented a revolutionary machine, the Genescope, that can decode the blueprint of man. From the DNA found in just one hair follicle, Carter can read a person's genes, predicting the onset of disease, determining how and when he or she will die. But at the moment of his greatest triumph, as he is being presented the Nobel Prize for medicine, Carter's world is shattered: An assassin's bullet meant for him kills his wife. In the aftermath of her death, a Genescope scan reveals that his young daughter, Holly, has inherited an incurable brain disease and has less than a year to live. His greatest achievement, which will save countless lives, can offer his beloved daughter only a death sentence. Even the most advanced medical science cannot save her. Tom Carter needs a miracle. A secret brotherhood, two thousand years old, may have the answer. Its members need his new technology to complete a sacred quest of their own. In return they offer Carter the chance to decode the DNA of the most famous healer in history - to look beyond the genes of man and into the genes of God.