Acclaimed chef Brett Baldwin and his Native American friend Jud Garcia are called to the scene of a gruesome torture-homicide in the town of Terlingua. The victim is Juds adopted uncle, Texas blues legend T.J. Rattlesnake Garcia. Rattlesnake has lived for years in a kind of holy poverty, but his recordings have sold millions, reaching back to the 1950s. He was a beloved icon, an eccentric piece of Texas fauna. Everything about his murder implies that something he had is something somebody wantedreal bad. In the hours and days after Garcia's mangled body is discovered, the international news media fill Terlingua. The spotlight shifts, however, to a refined older woman abandoned by Garcia long ago, who claims shes still his wife and heir.