Codex 632

In the Tavares Bastos favela, Rio de Janeiro, Martinho Toscano desperately runs away from someone who wants to get their hands on his investigation. He ends up dead, but frustrates the killer's expectations by having only blank papers in his possession. The research, which he kept secret even from the people who hired him, remains secure. Toscano's death deeply disturbs Tomás Noronha, his disciple, who in the meantime is dealing with a failed marriage with Constança and the heart disease of his daughter Margarida, who has Trisomy 21. The possibility of continuing his mentor's work becomes a reality when he is contacted by Nelson Moliarti, from the Américo Vespúcio Foundation. They want Toscano's investigation and pay him a fortune to get it done. Tomás accepts, but when he is attacked by a stranger before traveling to Brazil, he begins to think that he may have made an error in judgment.

Tomás learns that Martinho Toscano may have been murdered. Now it's the cryptanalyst who fears for his own life and he thinks about giving up on the agreement he made with Nelson Moliarti and John Savigliano, president of the Amerigo Vespucci Foundation. Meanwhile, Constança helps Toscano's widow, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, get back home, after she has tried, unsuccessfully, to contact Tomás before he left for Brazil. At the university, a meeting of students to get rid of colonialist symbols raises concern among the professors. We come to learn that Tomás' colleague, Vitória, is leading a group of students who are secretly attacking the symbols of the Discoveries and the slave-traders. Now in Brazil, Tomás discovers that Toscano strayed away from his initial investigation and left clues that could lead to a well-kept secret about World History. When he arrives back home, he's surprised by a request for a divorce from Constança, who has become involved with a mysterious patron of the Botanical Garden. In the wake of these events, Tomás lets himself be seduced by Helena, a foreign student who has been trying to get his attention since she arrived. Later, he's assaulted and is left in a bad condition. They take his computer and all the documents he had from Toscano's investigation. We learn that the attack was ordered by Diogo Ramirez, Constança's lover.

The siege is closing in around Tomás. He tries to talk with Toscano's widow, who suffers from Alzheimer's and doesn't remember trying to contact him. Only later, in a moment of lucidity, does Luísa take him to Toscano's safety deposit box, where she shows him a safe that her husband left for him and a puzzle for Tomás to solve. The cryptanalyst attempts to decipher the riddle, as he gets more and more involved with Helena. Vitória is seriously injured in a confrontation with neo-Nazis, while attempting to vandalize the Monument to the Discoveries. Under pressure from the foundation to get answers, Tomás travels to Genoa and connects the puzzle that was left to him to open the safe with Umberto Eco's work, "Foucault's Pendulum". His discovery is interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious woman, Manuella, who begins talking to him about the Foundation but, when she realizes that they're being watched, invites him to follow her. On the street, the two are chased and Manuella is fatally run over before she can tell him what she knows.

Tomás uncovers connections between Manuella and Savigliano. Upon returning to Lisbon, he feels increasingly as if he's being watched, and distrustful of the Foundation, still not imagining that Diogo is watching him through surveillance cameras and that Helena is working for the institution. Moliarti is unhappy with the progress of the investigation, which indicates some flaws in the theory about Columbus being Genoese, but Tomá remains determined to follow it through to the end. Meanwhile, during another attack on the statue of Father António Vieira, Bruno and Afonso are saved by Tomás, who helps them escape from the police, putting his life in danger. Margarida undergoes emergency heart surgery, giving Tomás and Constança a scare. The surgery is a success. Later, in an attempt to open the safe, the historian goes to the Synagogue and speaks to Solomon, the rabbi, a long-time acquaintance of Toscano's. During the conversation he discovers that Columbus was a Marrano, a name given to Jews who converted to Christianity. Convinced he has found the key to the safe, he goes to Luísa's house and runs into the man who had just stolen from him. After a frantic chase, the thief's car falls into the river. Tomás throws himself into the water to retrieve the safe, as the car sinks.

Tomás opens the safe, but he's unable to decipher all the information Toscano saved. One of the clues leads him to Count Vilarigues, an acquaintance of Toscano, who makes reference to a document held at the national library - CODEX 632 - which reveals the truth about the origin of Columbus. After discovering the cameras in his apartment and Constança telling him that she caught Helena at his house, Tomás realizes that he's caught up in a web of lies that is bigger and more dangerous than he could have ever imagined. Constança also tells him about her relationship with Diogo and her suspicions about him. We understand now the true intention of the Spaniard: to prove that he's the heir to Columbus. Unable to make a deal with Diogo, the Foundation decides to have him killed, but creates a ruse that will lead people to believe that he fled and that he was responsible for the death of Toscano. So, Tomás delivers to the Foundation the evidence that Columbus was a Portuguese nobleman with Jewish roots. He receives the agreed-upon sum of 500 thousand euros and signs, reluctantly, a confidentiality agreement to never reveal the results of the investigation. Already at the airport and ready to return to Macau, Helena calls Tomás and, to get back at them, reveals that the Foundation is a mafia organization that holds the rights to profit from Columbus' image, which brings in millions of euros per year. She also reveals that they were responsible for the deaths of Toscano and Manuella. Despite his disappointment, Tomás asks her to meet him one last time, but when he arrives at the airport, Helena's dead body is being removed from the bathroom.

Tomás decides to reveal the truth about Columbus' origin to the whole world. He returns to the national library, but when he asks for CODEX 632, he sees that a page has been ripped out. Tomás knows that the evidence may be lost forever, but knowing Savigliano's collector's spirit, decides to plan an assault on the Foundation with the help of Rodrigo and Vitória. Despite some surprises, the assault goes as planned, but just as Tomás is preparing to show the evidence to the Portuguese government, he finds out that the Foundation has kidnapped his daughter. The final confrontation with Savigliano and Moliarti turns into a police chase, when Inspector Froes intervenes with a team from the Judiciary Police. The Foundation is investigated worldwide and that Moliarti and Savigliano are extradited to be tried in Italy. Tomás and Constança sign divorce papers. Tomás declines to take Toscano's place at the university and takes a sabbatical year to write a book about the Portuguese origin of Christopher Columbus. Just when he thinks his life can return to normal, he's approached by a CIA agent who offers him a new investigation: decoding a manuscript found in Jerusalem.