Seasoned adventurer and treasure hunter Dirk Pitt, a former Navy SEAL, sets out for the African desert with his wisecracking buddy Al in search of a confederate ironclad battleship rumored to have vanished long ago, the main draw being the treasure supposedly hidden within the lost vessel. When the daring duo come across Dr. Eva Rojas, a beautiful scientist who is juggling an escape from a warlord and a mission to stop the spread of a powerful plague, their desert expedition begins to heat up. Master explorer Dirk Pitt goes on the adventure of a lifetime of seeking out a lost Civil War battleship known as the Ship of Death in the deserts of West Africa while helping a WHO doctor being hounded by a ruthless dictator.