This award-winning novel is based on a true story about a Mexican family who stagger into America with only the shirts on their backs. Set in the early 1900s, they overcome civil war, famine, and plagues to seek safety in the United States. But Pruduenciano Nava, a hard-drinking and quick-tempered father, botches a train holdup in New Mexico and nearly kills a man forcing him to elude the law and a fearsome Apache bounty hunter. Nava becomes Tereso Minjares and takes his family to Dona Ana, a quiet backwater town on the Rio Grande, to seek a quiet life. Tranquility is short lived because his lust for fame lures him to run guns for the legendary rebel, Pancho Villa and nearly destroys the family.