Mysterious dreams of a life in Renaissance Italy draw Louisiana antique shop owner Renee Martin to Venice at the start of the city's famous Carnevale. There, she literally meets the man of her dreams, Patrick Jordan, a handsome art gallery owner from Houston. After she purchases a topaz pendant from a local shop, her life begins to parallel with startling similarities that of Renata Briana, a young sixteenth-century Venetian woman the original owner of the topaz. Unscrupulous people who are after the valuable topaz chase Renee and Patrick through narrow alleys and twisting canals creating a seemingly endless nightmare. Amid the chaos, their love blooms. However, Renee's suspicions about a woman in Patrick's life and her reluctance to get involved with another man after being jilted threatens their relationship. Will this end their love? Or will the binding thread that stretches over five hundred years tie them together forever?