In the Mexican borderlands, a busload of student protesters is gunned down in a violent act blamed on the Nemesio cartel. But its aging leader, Fox Uno, sees the attack for what it is: another salvo in the battle for control of Nemesio itself; by a rival cartel, or maybe someone closer to home... Across the Rio Grande, Sheriff Chris Cherry and his deputies find themselves caught in Fox Uno's escalating war with the discovery of five dead men. But when El Paso DEA agent Joe Garrison's own Nemesio investigation leads him into the heart of the Big Bend, he s not ready to accept the cartel leader's retreat or defeat.