NICKY BLYTHE is a paperback writer. His latest novel tells the story of a gunslinger who wins the heart of a piano player, but she has history with an outlaw - who tries to throw our gunslinger out of town. The story is true. But there are some secrets Nicky won't tell.
A fierce dust storm blankets a vast and infertile desert. From under the sand and debris emerge four figures. Two survive and make their way across the desert, following a thin trail of smoke rising in the distance. Near dead, the mysterious strangers approach the home of Caleb Williams, a humble tailor seeking refuge from his wife's brutal murder. He takes them in and nurses them back to health, suppressing an unsettling recognition of the peculiar wounds marking their backs. In a nearby town, a desperate priest is approached by a familiar stranger. Unable to deny his horrific request, the priest accompanies him into the barren desert. Their journey will reveal not only the truth surrounding the death of the tailor's only love, but the presence of a much greater evil awakened in the desert wind.
In search of a box supposed to hold a treasure, a young woman goes into the ruins to recover her loot. Followed from afar by a man, the latter traps her and forces her to give him the said box. By observing its contents, he realizes that it contains only 13 euros and decides to do everything to find out where the young woman could have hidden the rest of the money.