David Olguin, a young U.S.-raised Mexico-born man, sees one chance to get life right. His first love has careened sideways. The baby shoes on his rear view mirror call the stakes. Having self-deported, he lands in an isolated Mexican coastal village armed only with his talent as a cook. Here, winter gringo squatters pit themselves against a struggling native co-op for rule over beachfront land, and a resplendent resort arises across the bay. It's 1996, only months after communications deregulation. Cellular phone and Internet service verge on breaking free, complicating David's chaos-strewn life. When the wreckage of his past confronts him, he risks all he has gained for the community he has grown to love, especially his new love with a past of her own. Honor and love square off, and the fireworks begin. From the author of Sea Cliff 104.