Wrenched from a deteriorating lifestyle when his promiscuous wife kicked him out, anti-hero Don Vargas rents a dilapidated casita which – unknown to him – is actually a portal to another world. Though he is extremely reluctant, a crafty bat persuades Vargas to travel through a dusty portal and take on a contemporary fantasy quest into the Valle Abajo. In the Valle, a larger-than-life alternate Rio Grande Valley, Don initially rejects the clanspeople's expectation he will save them from the wily Soreyes’ mysterious Tower. In another visit to the Valle, Don starts to relent after he is joined by the beautiful Raquela and the feisty little Nersite who try to help him overcome the Soreyes. Finally on his third visit, Don accepts the quest if only to see how his delusion will play out – and is greeted by surprises he’ll take to his grave. Mysteries are revealed while new enigmas take their place as the book ends leading to Books II and III of the trilogy.