When the original manuscript of The Divine Comedy emerges in the clutches of a black-market smuggling ring in New York City’s dangerous underbelly, the mob calls weary scholar Nick to authenticate it. Overwhelmed by temptation, Nick defies the mafia and steals the manuscript. As he follows a dark and violent path from a metaphorical Hell into Paradise with his love Giulietta, a parallel tale unfolds: the odyssey of Dante himself, a man who, trapped in a loveless marriage with Gemma and bolstered only by his mentorship under an austere intellectual, escapes to Sicily and creates his masterpiece.