When retired U.S. Customs Bureau inspector Samuel Adams White (to his ex-wife, "the most boring human being") is abducted south of the border by Mexican drug smugglers, he is given the chance to flee for his life. Desperately trying to reach the border, he is pursued across the deserts of rural Mexico. Through a series of hair-raising adventures, the inspector discovers self-reliance, resourcefulness, the reality of the natural world-and of romance. The reader discovers the profound differences, as well as their origins and implications, between Mexican culture and that of El Norte, her neighbor across the Rio Grande. The tale is suffused with Williamson's understanding of and sympathy for a people among whom he is well traveled.