Events conspire against Esmeralda in her search for the truth about Pili's murder: the arrival of an attractive legionnaire and the internecine rivalry which results; a prophecy made to Lisa by a Santeria priest in Cuba while investigating her father's bigamy, a prophecy disregarded as superstition but eerily fulfilled by a character key to the mystery of Pili; a perplexing trial; risky sexual adventure with consequences; and not least, natural forces in the rocky, clifftop plot.

As Esme struggles to keep afloat her fruit, vegetable and chalet business off the Santiago Way in northern Spain, she finds herself spiralling into criminality.

Pili's unquiet spirit leads Esme into ever more ethereal terrain until she is compelled to bore through the life-death interface, to conquer disbelief and meet Pili face to face.