It was a magnificent sight that Jamaica hopes to never see again: a man, tied to a cross, his loincloth catching in the wind as he plummeted down into the Rio Grande Gorge to his death. That is, if he wasn’t dead already.

Ever since she learned about Los Penitentes, a secret, ancient religious group that reenacts Jesus’ crucifixion and practices excessive penance, Jamaica’s been fascinated, putting together a book of sketchings and research. And this death in the Gorge seems to fits with everything she has learned. But a haunted old priest warns Jamaica to put down her pencil…

Her superiors wouldn’t mind if she kept her nose out of things, either. But too many strange things are happening for Jamaica to pay any mind. For one, her medicine teacher, Momma Anna, has given her a cryptic assignment. And when someone makes an attempt on her life, Jamaica sets out on a fact-finding mission that could very well send her, like the crucified man, over the edge…