Kate Norton's comfortable life in Minnesota is turned upside down when she receives a posthumous letter from her mother, translated from Arabic by Paul MacGregor, a ruggedly handsome Arabic professor. Kate has struggled her entire life with feeling like an outsider because of her Egyptian heritage. Prior to receipt of the letter, her mother had never provided Kate with any information on her family in Egypt. Now, the letter and the accompanying bejeweled scarab, an ancient Egyptian symbol of immortality, protection, and resurrection, tempt Kate with information about her family heritage. Can she find the answer to her life-long quest of who she is and find peace with her multi-cultural identity? Traveling to Egypt to search for her grandfather and other family members, Kate not only runs into Paul MacGregor again, she also inadvertently walks into a plot to wrest her grandfather's business empire from his control, unwittingly becoming the sole impediment to the takeover. With her life in danger, Kate and Paul must outwit her enemies and save herself and her grandfather. Her scarab is the key.