"Ismael Diaz is on death row. As he sits in his cell waiting to die, he writes a diary that reconstructs his life and the circumstances that led him to commit murder. The reader meets a man who is a successful real estate lawyer in Boston until he trespasses on a neighbor's property to put out a "spring cleaning" fire. This incident sets off a chain reaction that results in the loss of everything that has made his life worthwhile.

At loose ends, he decides to go back and seek out the people of his past, including his long-lost love, Armanda. He succeeds in finding her but discovers that she has lost her youthful innocence as the result of a nightmarish life of drug addiction, prostitution, and the murder of her (and Ismael's) child. Diaz's attempts to rescue Armanda finally lead him to death row. As he writes his story in prison, he also learns the "way of the jaguar" from another inmate. Partly ancient Aztec philosophy and partly an idiosyncratic, extrapolated doctrine, it entails facing down La Pelona - death itself - and accepting life.

This knowledge finally enables Diaz to make the most important decision he has ever made."--BOOK JACKET.