The war-torn Mexico of Maximilian and Carlota serves as the exciting backdrop for this novel of passion and revenge. Antoinette Dubec, a young Frenchwoman, is determined to bring to justice the mysterious rebel leader El Padrino, whom she believes is responsible for her father's death. She vows, even at the risk of her own life, to see the bandit hang for robbing her of the one she loved most in the world. Antoinette is assisted in her search by the brooding and defiant Loyalist Mexican officer Ramon Chavez, whose love of country comes before family or morality. His tactics are often ruthless and cruel, but Antoinette begins to see in him a man she can respect and trust. A strange secret he will not reveal keeps him aloof from her, and even when he brings her to his family estate, Val Verde, she is unable to connect the man she has come to know with the dark soul she fears is hidden beneath the surface. The mystery of Val Verde, and of the man who owns it, is compelling to Antoinette, even though it frightens her. Although she tries to free herself from Ramon's power over her, she discovers that she is bound to the land she once hated as she is bound to the man she never thought she could love.