In 1825, Czar Alexander I of Russia was buried—but many did not believe that the body in the coffin was that of the czar. Rather, they believed that he had slipped away in disguise and was walking the roads of Russia as a humble monk.

In 1975, a Russian named Yuri and his adolescent daughter Tanya approach a Soviet-era monastery in Leningrad, where an ancient tomb is opened—inside is the ancient, dessicated body of a monk—and a golden snuff box is removed and given to them. Tanya has a special gift—the Pravda: she can always recognize when someone is telling her the truth. But Soviet soldiers arrive, and Yuri is wounded and captured. Tanya flees.

Seven years later, Tanya is living in Colorado on a goat farm, but her ability as an investigator—aided by her Pravda gift—has already proven useful to the local sheriff. Then the Bible of the Bell Messenger comes into her life, and all of the mysteries and dangers of her past life erupt again: the golden snuff box, the identity of the monk in the coffin, the location and welfare of her father—and Tanya embarks on a world tour, partly fleeing, partly kidnapped, partly in an effort to solve the mysteries herself. Will Tanya, now in her late teens, be able to discern which of the new people who enter her life at his point can be trusted? Will she fulfill her destiny as the girl with the gift? And how will the Messenger’s Bible help her?