Burned out with law, Martin Lundgren sets out to find a simpler life. He buys an abandoned homestead in northern New Mexico, planning to stretch his savings until he can support himself as a writer. What he doesn't plan on is falling in love, not only with the land itself and the chicanos who live there, but also with his neighbor's niece. When she breaks their engagement, Martin is devastated. To make ends meet, Martin signs on with a small newspaper. This interim job turns into a career that leads him from the Detroit race riots to the Six Days War, and writing under the byline of Martin Quinn, he wins a Pulitzer. The celebration ends when Quinn awakes in jail with no memory how he got there. Nor is this the first time this has occurred, and it becomes painfully clear that Martin must find a different way to live or he will surely die.