Art investigator Adam Barrow returns to New York when billionaire Phillip Dansby hires him once again to authenticate a set of Picasso drawings. The search becomes secondary when Dansby uncovers a story about a scandalous painting by Diego Velazquez that was supposedly destroyed by the Catholic Church 400 years ago. Or was it? Considered by many as the greatest artist who ever lived, Velazquez's lost painting may be a fairytale or an incalculable treasure-if it survived the Church's wraith. The enigma draws them to Madrid where Adam's plea for help is rebuffed by Elena Echevarria, an enchanting curator at The Prado who distrusts his motives. Accompanied by Tomas Navarro, a cartel hit man hired by Dansby as a bodyguard, Adam forms a partnership with a renegade Catholic priest who draws him into Madrid's gypsy community. An unscrupulous Spanish shipping magnate with an insatiable thirst for Velazquez's work threatens Adam, who finds himself also tracked by a pair of killers with an old score to settle with Dansby. With no clues about the painting's whereabouts or its forbidden subject, Adam faces increasing doubts and the knowledge that someone wants him dead.