The fuse of war ignites between the Monsalbes and the Barragans, a fierce war governed by only one law: blood for blood. As the two families seek to accumulate wealth through illicit activities, love with its presence creates deeds, changes paths, and creates mountains of words that people pass on about the members of the two families until they are no longer what they are, but rather what people tell and imagine. Thus begins the legend that became true from too much of it being passed on, or perhaps it is a true story that became a legend from too much of it being told. With an interwoven narrative full of sensory details, drawing from the springs of magical realism, Laura Restrepo writes a novel that is brutal and sweet at the same time, an epic story about desire and betrayal, a myth about life and death crouching in the desert: "like a leopard in the sun."