Set on the plains in the small town of McPherson, Kansas, young widow Liza spends her days working at the courthouse and focused on her daughter Lina, never thinking twice about the would-be suitors who try to charm her. She has kept herself since her husband died and she always says that love just happens along the way. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, that is exactly what happens. She meets Alfredo, the owner of a landscaping business, and they quickly fall in love.

Casting aside judgment and warnings about marrying someone she doesn't know from those closest to her, Liza gives in to her feelings, and she and Alfredo get married. But what appears to be the fairy tale story quickly turns into a nightmare when people around her start to turn up dead. What the reader knows yet Liza remains oblivious of is that the lawn guy Alfredo is a cold-blooded killer who has a side business of smuggling people across the border. The only people who know never live to tell.