Dolores Claiborne (Kathy Bates) was accused of killing her abusive husband twenty years ago, but the court's findings were inconclusive and she was allowed to walk free. Now she has been accused of killing her employer, Vera Donovan (Judy Parfitt), and this time there is a witness who can place her at the scene of the crime. Things look bad for Dolores, the memory of the first murder seemingly confirming her guilt in the second. But when her daughter Selena (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a successful Manhattan magazine writer, returns to cover the story, the truth about the family's past gradually comes to light.

Passed down from the Ancients, the secret of a great power. Mis-used by mankind, it is retrieved from the Persians and hidden for eternity. Found by Varangian Guards and taken to Northumberland, it is given for safe keeping to the monks of Durham who hide it with the Cathedral treasure. Colburn Lord is shown an obelisk originating in America. Finding a clue in the base, a chase through time begins. Two ex-military officers, living their idyllic lives, stumble through history with daring and panache. They follow clues encountering dangerous and amusing situations. The search leads to Durham Cathedral and the Lindisfarne Gospels. Returning to Durham Castle the trail leads them to a copy of the Magna Carta held in the National Archives in Washington DC. The secret remains in the Castle and Cathedral. Other forces are shadowing the Lords, who want the secret for themselves. Will they find the clues, decipher the codes and find the ancient's secret before the opposing forces? The secret thet discover is one of the World's great mysteries.