Marine archaeologists Kate Wetherall and Lou Bates are diving off Howland Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, when a torpedo-shaped object hurtles through the water towards them; the fuselage of Amelia Earhart's lost plane. In the cockpit, they find a corroded metal cylinder the size of a baton. Landing back on US soil, Kate and Lou are arrested and interrogated by special forces, and the cylinder confiscated. Behind the arrests is Glena Buckingham, CEO of the powerful energy conglomerate Eurenergy, as she too has discovered that the wrecked plane may have held precious secret cargo.