In this first in The Salinas Trilogy, Nina Lucero discovers that blood guilt has its consequences as she fights her way to self reliance, escaping from the multicultural, Pentecostal confines of a rural upbringing in southern New Mexico. Whether in butchering prize farm animals for food, hunting deer in the nearby Manzano Mountains with her war-vet uncle, warding off the lecherous attacks of neighboring twin brothers, or protecting herself from combative school-girl rivals, violence and blood map the way of Nina's individuation. Marriage to a delusional pastor caught up in snake worship offers her only tragic respite from the perverse darkness engulfing her spirit and the historic Native American and Hispanic ruins just beyond her father's sheep ranch. She has the stuff to save herself and her children, but will she? Are divorce and a move to Albuquerque the answers? Will the soothing strains of her brother's enchanting guitar and her mother's fateful courage help? Atonement must come for Nina and her family but so must even more catastrophic blood guilt. Includes Readers Guide.