California archaeology student Chione Ini-Herit has vivid dreams about the discovery of an opulent tomb. After learning that Chione's dreams are playing out in Egypt, the founder of the California Institute of Archaeology accepts an offer to examine a mysterious site in Valley of the Queens. When they discover a tomb, things begin to unravel.

Magical spells encoded into the hieroglyphs on the tomb's walls transport Chione and her former boyfriend, fellow archaeologist Aaron Ashby, back 3,500 years to ancient Egypt. Even stranger, Aaron and Chione begin to morph into Tutankhamon and Tauret, a priestess in Pharaoh's Court, after learning that Tauret coded the magical spells into the hieroglyphs to keep her and Pharaoh irrevocably joined in the afterlife.

When other team members speak the spells aloud, they, too, are affected in unfathomable ways by the Ka, the spirit of the entombed person. Chione and Aaron learn that Tauret has conjured powerful spells to provide Tutankhamon with a living heir, and Tauret has chosen Chione and Aaron to complete her destiny.