A quest to hide the Box of Orden from the clutches of Darken Rahl leads Richard, Kahlan and Zedd to the Crypt of Tavol'Rang - the burial place of the legendary Seeker, Kieran. But when the storied hero's sarcophagus is discovered empty, Richard and Kahlan soon learn that a deception from the past could cost them their future.

Darken Rahl is determined to have his personal wizard, Giller, harness a powerful magical force that will help Rahl enslave the world. But Richard's attempts to rescue his friends from the sadistic wizard's deadly experiments send him into his first explosive face-to-face confrontation with the evil Rahl.