Jerusalem, 1929. In a daring rescue, Phryne Fisher saves Shirin Abbas, a young Bedouin woman, from unjust imprisonment. Shirin is traumatised by memories of seeing her village massacred as a child - before a sandstorm buried everything - and is determined to prove it. Phryne promises to help Shirin seek justice, but their dangerous escape separates them, and Phryne is presumed dead. Phryne’s estranged admirer, Inspector Jack Robinson, travels to her memorial service at Lofthouse Manor in the English countryside, but his mourning is interrupted by Phryne’s surprise arrival, prompting Jack to depart in angry confusion.   

Phryne stays at the Manor with Lord and Lady Lofthouse, the Lord’s younger brother Jonathon, and Shirin and her uncle Sheikh Kahlil, who is in business with Lord Lofthouse. When Phryne tries to discover the truth about Shirin’s village during the Great War, Lofthouse and Jonathon (former soldiers), along with the Sheikh, deny the massacre. However, when Phryne and Jack witness the murder of Wilson, an army deserter who gives Phryne an ancient, encrypted pendent moments before his death, they are convinced there is more to the story.  

Phryne and Jack take the pendent to archaeologist, Professor Linnaeus, who determines that the piece was looted from a secret tomb beneath Shirin’s village, known as the Crypt of Tears, built by Alexander the Great. Whilst Linnaeus searches in his archives for more information on the Crypt, Jack is attacked by a veiled figure who is after the pendent. Phryne pursues the attacker, but they escape - empty handed - into the night.  

The next day, Jack follows one of Wilson’s leads, discovering a second treasure that helps point the way back to Shirin’s village in the Negev Desert and the Crypt beneath. Meanwhile, Shirin convinces her uncle that the British are covering up the massacre of their Bedouin people and to end his dealings with Lord Lofthouse, who then assaults the Sheikh as a result. That night, the Sheikh is shot and Lord Lofthouse is arrested for his murder. 

While investigating the crime scene, Phryne and Jack locate the third and most important Crypt treasure, the ‘All-Seeing Eye’. Linnaeus decodes its inscription, which warns of an ancient curse that will befall the world should anyone remove the All-Seeing Eye. With time running out, the Professor urges Phryne and Jack, accompanied by Shirin and Jonathan, to travel to the Negev Desert to undo the curse. Before they can complete their mission however, the murderer of Wilson and the Sheikh ambushes them in the Crypt of Tears. A frenzied struggle ensues, wherein the mystery killer is revealed, and our heroes escape the collapsing Crypt.  

The All-Seeing Eye is restored to its rightful place and the curse is lifted. Shirin assumes her pre-destined role as the next guardian of the Crypt of Tears – and Phryne and Jack spend a memorable night together under the stars of the Negev.