Life in the small mountainous community of La Paz, Guatemala is shaken by a gruesome discovery. The remains of a visiting U.S. doctoral student are found on one of the community's holiest shrines. Furthermore, his heart has been ripped from his body, his skin has been stripped away, and his limbs are missing. Government officials are convinced that he was the victim of ritual murders by local shamans imitating the practices of the ancient Mayans, but Lorenzo Batz, a representative of local K'iche elders is not so sure. He is selected by ruthless ex-military Governor to investigate the murder...

Life in the small mountainous community of La Paz, Guatemala is shaken by a gruesome discovery. The remains of a visiting U.S. doctoral student are found on one of the community's holiest shrines. Furthermore, his heart has been ripped from his body, his skin has been stripped away, and his limbs are missing. Government officials are convinced that he was the victim of ritual murders by local shamans imitating the practices of the ancient Mayans, but Lorenzo Batz, a representative of local K'iche elders is not so sure. He is selected by ruthless ex-military Governor to investigate the murder...

Captain Manuel Gonzales, District Supervisor for the Highland Guatemalan District of La Paz, and his assistant, Seco Alvarez, were busily trying to fill out year-end reports when a middle-aged American couple walked in to their tiny office. The couple had been sent by authorities in Guatemala City to enlist the Captain's aid in finding a missing indigenous woman who had agreed to be the surrogate mother for their planned adoption. The enormity of trying to find this single woman among the tens-of-thousands of local Maya K'iche speakers within the district leads Captain Gonzales to enlist the...