On Christmas Eve, snow falls softly on the small adobe house perched in a field on the edge of the pueblo. Young Ben Touchstone, a half-breed, feels a tear snake past his cheekbone to his mouth. Born with pale skin, straw colored hair and cobalt eyes, his sad expression is reflected in the window. Rejected by the pueblo, he also feels the pain of knowing he is regarded as an oddity by anglos. Even the tourists on the plaza in Santa Fe cast curious glances. Ben feels forsaken in a strange limbo between the cultures. That night, in the mysterious chapel at Chimayo, he is startled and bewildered...