29 year-old professor of Modern Literature Astrid Kent is enjoying her summer in Seattle when she gets a call that catapults her back into her sordid past. Her mother, famous artist Maeve Garza Kent, has died suddenly back inBrownsville, Texas, and Astrid has inherited her home and other belongings - including an ex-lover in residence. Astrid goes reluctantly back to her childhood home, La Casa de la Luz. She soon realizes the house and grounds have secrets when her mother's ghost appears to her, she finds a letter and a coded note that say "trust no one," and she sees someone prowling around at night. Matters are complicated since Astrid is drawn to two men who spend time at La Casa: Manfred Banes, a painter with looks just as Nordic and chilly as his personality and the dark and driven Juan Marquez who broke her heart years before and is rumored to be in the drug trade. Astrid must determine whom she can trust before present events spiral beyond her control.