After an attack on his lover, Croft scours New Mexico for vengeance.

Ever since a bullet smashed her spine, detective Joshua Croft has tried to entice Rita Mondragón away from her house. For years the response from his boss and unrequited love has been the same: 'I'll go into town when I can walk there.' When she is finally strong enough to walk, their relationship blossoms into love. Rita and Croft are basking on the patio outside her mountain home when a helicopter swoops overhead. A single rifle shot erupts, and Rita is struck down again. After hours in the operating room, the surgeons are able to remove the bullet from Rita's brain, leaving her comatose but stable. As she fights to wake up, Croft starts on the trail for the gunman. Avenging Rita will require him to look back into their past, to the beginnings of their relationship, and the birth of a love that is too young to die.