Benjamin January and his new wife Rose travel to Mexico in 1835 after learning that their friend Hannibal Sefton has been accused of murdering the son of a powerful landowner. At Hacienda Mictlán, the evidence against Hannibal appears overwhelming, while family rivalries and an unstable patriarch make every witness unreliable.
Their investigation moves between Mexico City’s crowded streets and the estate’s ancient landscape during the Days of the Dead. January must understand the household’s concealed relationships and identify a living killer before Hannibal is executed and before the murderer silences the visitors who refuse to accept the official story.