In 1915, Henry Calhoun, fleeing the pains of a lost love, decides to join the 10th Irish Division. His desire to see action dissolves shortly after he is involved in the landing at Suvla Bay, in modern day Turkey. Soon he is losing friends at an alarming rate: not just from enemy attacks but from disease caused by living in the trenches. While raiding enemy territory, Calhoun is struck by a bullet and left for dead. When he awakens, he finds he has been taken in by friendly locals and that his near-fatal wounds have healed exceptionally fast. The accelerated healing is due to the locals' use of an ancient artifact-one dating back nearly 2, 000 years. Desperate to return to his division, Calhoun leaves the locals' care, but not before taking a piece of the relic with him-a souvenir that will alter the course of his life, the outcome of the war, and perhaps even the fate of humanity.