From the flap text of the 1983 edition: For fifteen years Ann Zwinger...has been visiting the southern tip of Baja California... . Captivated by the area's harsh beauty, its dramatic contrast of arid desert and tropical sea, she has climbed its rocky, 5,000-foot mountains, explored its great variety of beaches and tidepools, trekked through miles of its cactus-covered low country, and come to know the people who live there and their turbulent history. Supplementing her acute observations and personal adventures with extensive research, including readings on the geology, botany, and marine biology of the region from the works of many other visitors, Mrs. Zwinger has produced a book whose running text and many drawings... will delight the armchair adventurer, traveler, and naturalist, and whose detailed scientific information will be invaluable to students and researchers.

Appendices include endnotes, chronology of the history of the region, lists of plants, birds, and reptiles of the Cape Region, and a bibliography.