Gifted fifteen-year-old Francisco Guzman has become an internationally renowned concert pianist, touring the world under the auspices of his music conservatory. That gives his mother, Posadas County Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, plenty of reason to worry--and that's magnified when she learns that he's in Mexico’s crime-ridden Mazatlan for a concert series where he may be the target for scam artists and kidnappers.

Estelle’s worries go from bad to worse when her uncle―a man she didn't know existed―surfaces in an attempt to mend family ties and leaves a trail of corpses in his wake. Estelle’s attempts to glean family history―the story of her childhood in Tres Santos over the border―from her adopted mother, a woman now in her nineties, go nowhere. Meanwhile, escalating events put Sheriff Bobby Torrez in jeopardy, as they do newly wealthy rancher Miles Waddell and his pet project, the multi-million dollar theme park, NightZone, set high on a county mesa.

Just when his sage advice might be most useful, former sheriff and family friend Bill Gastner takes a dive―in the shadows of his own garage. Now his far-flung family is added to the mix of people and events astir in the boot heel of New Mexico.