Asian scholar and black belt artist Connor Burke labors as a deshi-a student under the tutelage of a master warrior- a practice that draws him into the execution-style murder of a Japanese businessman in Brooklyn. Connor's brother, an officer in the NYPD, enlists him to decipher the strange calligraphic writing left by the victim at the crime scene. The enigmatic message leads Connor to the lethal samurai heritage of a mysterious martial arts sensei, the foreboding world of a Tibetan clairvoyant, and finally the unknown wilderness of an elite mountain temple-where Connor's deadliest challenge awaits.