Ellen Martin has a soaring corporate legal career in Chicago's powerhouse firm Cowley & Tate. She is handpicked, under questionable circumstances, to perform a pro bono case in the sweltering Colombian town of Barrancabermeja. But Barranca is a place where she is not welcome and events soon conspire against her, pushing her into a downward spiral of trouble and desperation. She is kidnapped; arrested; shot at; and chased by the police, the military, a corrupt government, revolutionary groups, librarians, and common criminals while civilization seems to crumble around her. Revolution has come to the small city, threatening the stability of the whole country. Ellen's only help is Alex Heart, the musician housemate of the gay architect nephew of her personal trainer. Alex turns into her knight in shining armor, and romance blooms and fades ... and blooms while she tries to find out who is behind her predicament. Nothing is as it seems. It's a bit chick-lit-y, a bit romance-y, a bit action-y, and lots of fun