Summary:Five months before the novel begins, Bishop Aringarosa is called to the Vatican and told that the Pope no longer wants the Catholic Church to be associated with Opus Dei ( Opus Dei (Latin: "The Work of God") is a controversial Catholic organization founded to promote Christian principles and advance the Church). The Church decided to donate twenty million euros to Opus Dei, which the Church had previously borrowed from Opus Dei. A few weeks later, Aringarosa receives a call from Lee Teabing, who disguises himself as a French devotee and calls himself "the Master". Teabing tells Aringarosa that he knows how to find the Holy Grail. (The Holy Grail - in legend and literature, is commonly thought to be the cup or chalice used by Christ at the Last Supper. It is said to possess miraculous powers.) For twenty million euros, money of which Teabing does not have need, but uses it as a cover: Teabing will share the Grail with Aringarosa who can use it to bargain with the Church. Meanwhile, Teabing has placed surveillance on the homes and offices of important Parisians who he suspects are at the top of the Priory of Sion. When Teabing has enough information he tells Silas, the albino monk, to kill the Grand Master and his sénéchaux. Silas must first demand to know where the keystone is. When he kills men, each of them gives him the same wrong answer. Meanwhile, Harvard professor Robert Langdon is in Paris to give a talk about his research. He is woken up in the middle of the night by Lieutenant Collet because the Paris police need his help to solve the murder of Jacques Saunière. The police captain, Bezu Fache, is actually bringing Langdon to the scene because he thinks Langdon is responsible for the murder. Before he died, Saunière left a riddle on the floor next to his body that included Langdon's name. At the crime scene Langdon meets Sophie Neveu, Saunière's niece, although the police only know that she works for the cryptology department. Sophie knows that Langdon has been wrongly accused and helps him escape, but not before discovering more clues left by her grandfather. Langdon and Sophie follow Saunière's clues to a Swiss bank where they discover a cryptex. Without knowing that Teabing is the mastermind behind the murders that occurred that evening, Langdon takes Sophie to his house. Teabing is a religious historian and lifelong Grail seeker, as well as a friend of Langdon.