"The true story of Guatemala's political turmoil of the 1950s as only a master of fiction can tell it"--

Corporal Lituma, an officer of the Guardia Civil, is sent to a post in Naccos, the Andes. Once there, he will try to solve what happened to three missing men. His only aide is his young adjutant Carreño, a serrucho who has spent years in the lowland cities. The two are fearsomely isolated, distrusted by the villagers and the construction workers, certain that one day they will be attacked and slain by the shadowy Senderistas who have them surrounded....