During the last year of World War 1 in France, the statue of Notre Dame des Brebieres (Our Lady of the Ewes) known in English as THE GOLDEN VIRGIN, finally partially fell, an event which was believed would bring the war to an end. No one knew why the Ancre River, which flowed underneath the basilica at Albert, ceased possessing any more healing powers.
Carter and Valerie were bringing Mercy to France for her twelfth birthday to visit Abbot Anselm, a monk they had met in London, to celebrate her birthday, as Mercy had requested.
When they arrive, the Abbot shows them a manifesto from an anti-war group threatening to destroy military monuments as a beginning to end the memorialization of war. They find that this group has already blown up the work of a tunneling group from Australia.
The group, they find, is composed of seven protestors; unknown to the other four members, three of them are gold smugglers. The Sidi joins them to help bring both situations to an end. He offers to pay for a new monument in a village whose aux mortes has been blown up, and knowledge of these passes beyond the borders of France, and groups come to help in a parade to initiate the new monument, and help track down the gold smugglers.
As a birthday present, the Abbot tells Mercy what he has discovered about the river losing its powers. Four of the protesters are captured and the other three make a run for it toward Estonia, where their car is registered; they return, due to knowledge a Russian assassin is following since they have been discovered; they seek sanctuary at the monastery, but are killed there by the assassin, who the Sidi and Khalil then dispense.