Rolando P?erez falls to his death outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, sparking rumors of a conspiracy that he may have sacrificed himself to protect documents from his family, the police, and the Catholic Church. After Rolando's death, Ilan Stavans arrives in Santa Fe to give a lecture on "crypto-Jews" and he is drawn into a race to find Rolando's lost documents that may contain secrets to Rolando's mysterious death.