When daddy abandoned Nicki in Encendido, Texas in the late 1950's, Nicki was too young to imagine her future. It seemed wonderful that Dona Paulita and her grandson, Frank Kendall, adopted her. She could not imagine falling in love with Frank, or the consequences if she did. David Rodriguez is Frank's cousin. David didn't fully understand how Frank felt about that particular kinship until he found himself in Huntsville Prison. Sheriff Robert Burkman needs his job. What will he do to keep it? Will he leave David to rot behind "The Walls" when he knows David is innocent? Father Daniel Munoz crawls down the aisle at his Catholic church, begging for forgiveness, inspiration, a visitation from God, anything to make life bearable. But he ends up the same way every time; heading for the Mexican border and its pleasures. Encendido, short for Santa del Corazon Encendido, Saint of the Burning Heart, is a town on fire."