Plot Summary
The Da Vinci Code is set in Paris, France in modern times. The book opens with the prologues, which recounts Jacques Saunière's murder within the Louvre art museum. It explains from an anonymous narrator perspective how Jacques Saunière was murdered and who murdered him. Silas, the albino monk, shoots him in the stomach and leaves him to die a slow, painful death. The prologue also hints at Jacques Saunière's circumstances. The old man realizes that his three partners are dead and he must do something to pass on his secret. Jacques Saunière then summons all of his energy to send a coded message and preserve his secret.
With Jacques Saunière dead, the narrator turns to focus on the American symbologist Robert Langdon. This marks the beginning of chapter one. Robert is a awoken by the French Judicial Police in the middle of the night and taken from his comfortable hotel room to the scene of Jacques Saunière's murder. The police believed that Langdon, a symbologist, could help them with the case. When Robert Langdon arrived at the Louvre, he was greeted by a gruesome coded message that Jacques Saunière had left. There, in the middle of the grand gallery of the Louvre, Jacques Saunière lay dead. But, before he had died, Saunière had positioned himself in a pose in which he lay naked on his back, with a five-pointed star drawn in blood on his chest. He had also drawn a circle around himself in blood and written on the floor with an invisible ink marker. The message read:
"13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5
O, Draconian devil!
Oh, lame saint!
P.S. Find Robert Langdon"
Soon after Robert Langdon arrived, Sophie Neveu from the French Cryptology department arrived on the scene. She had solved the numbers portion of the code. Not only had she solved the numbers portion of the code, but Sophie also had urgent news for Robert Langdon. She said that a friend back home had been injured and the U.S. embassy in France had a message for him. She handed him a phone number and he called while Sophie talked with the police chief, Besu Fache. The number was actually Sophie's phone number and he listened to the message that she recorded for him. She explained that Bezu Fache believed that Robert Langdon was responsible for Jacques Saunière's murder. Robert was startled by this, but followed all of Sophie's instructions that she gave him in the message.
By following Sophie's instructions, the two of them tricked the police and escaped from the Louvre. But, not before solving Jacques Saunière's code and finding the key that he hid inside the Louvre. At this point, Sophie told Robert that Jacques Saunière is her grandfather. The two of them then teamed up, seeing as how they were both running from the police. They figured out where the key lead to: a very secure and secretive bank. There, they used the key to open Jacques Saunière's storage container and retrieve a small, wooden box with a rose engraved on the top. Inside the box was a container that could only be open with a secret five-letter password. This box confirms Robert's suspicions of Jacques Saunière being a part of a secret society that protected the Holy Grail called the Priory of Sion.
By this point in time, the police had caught up to them and the bank owner agreed to help them escape. However, when the bank owner found out that Robert and Sophie were wanted by the police, he turned on them. Robert and Sophie overcame him and took the armored car used in their escape. The code-cracking duo then decided to drive to Leigh Teabing's estate and ask for his help. Leigh Teabing, being an expert on the Holy Grail and the Priory of Sion assisted them by explaining to them all that he knew.
Up until this point in the story, Dan Brown, the author, has weaved in separate chapters about Silas, the albino monk. Silas has been working for Bishop Aringarosa, whose is head of the Opus Dei religious group, and a mysterious man known only as "The Teacher," whom's identity is unknown. The monk has constantly been two steps behind Robert Landgon and Sophie Neveu in the search for the Holy Grail. But, news from "The Teacher" has brought him up to speed.
As Robert, Sophie, and Leigh work together to open the small, locked container, Silas sneaks into Leigh Teabing's mansion and knocks Robert out cold. Before he can do any more damage or steal the wooden box with the locked container, Leigh knocks Silas out cold. Before the police storm Leigh's mansion, Robert and Sophie escape with Leigh and his butler in Leigh's private plane. They tie the albino monk up and take him with them to England, Leigh's home country.
On the plane, Robert and Sophie opened the small, locked container only to find another locked container and a clue. The clue lead the team to a tomb in England. After discovering that this was the wrong tomb, Leigh being kidnapped, and Silas getting away, Robert and Sophie finally found the correct tomb, also in England. Here, Robert discovers the password to the locked container and opens it to find what may possibly be the final clue to the puzzle of the Holy Grail. However, at this tomb, Robert and Sophie are confronted by "The Teacher" at gunpoint.
Who is this mysterious teacher? Will Robert and Sophie ever find the Holy Grail? I don't mean to be cliche but, you're going to have to read the book to find out!