Harlan Janeway flunks out of a life he never wanted in Nashville, Tennessee. Seeking change, he finds it in a small town in Central Mexico. Falling in with a ribald and piebald crowd, his self-imposed exile backfires when an ill-considered sexual liaison harvests him a heap of trouble with all the wrong people, including a band of vicious drug runners. Parallel to Janeway's history, and running counter-point to it, is the story of one Gunnar Haglund, a Swedish mining entrepreneur during the Mexican Revolution. His is a tragic tale of a man caught up in events beyond his control as the country descends into chaos. Modern day Harlan Janeway, though aware of Haglund's history, fails to grasp how his own life, also spun out of control, has become a sort of mythic extension of Haglund's. It is, then, a case of history repeating itself... almost. Janeway, given every chance to crap out in ignominy, is driven beyond himself to the point where failure is no longer an option.