In today's world of high-tech medicine, more and more people are seeking less invasive, less poisonous methods of maintaining their health. For these people, the solution lies in the Tavera legacy.

Elegant Dr. Lenor Tavera has begun to convince the administrators of prestigious, high-tech Foley Hospital that there's more to medicine than machines and drugs. Generations of Taveras have been healers in New Mexico. The family's handwritten Tavera Herbal is a priceless record of the curanderismo, the physical, mental, and spiritual healing Lenor uses along with her modern medical education.

The rhythms of Lenor's life, as steady as her heartbeat—hospital rounds, medical research, lectures and interviews, and a warm relationship with a fellow physician—are shattered by the unexpected death of her grandmother, Jovita.

Lenor speeds home to New Mexico, where Jovita is declared dead of natural causes despite subtle signs that the woman was poisoned. Did the local doctor miss the clues, or is he protecting someone? And why is he so uneasy discussing curanderismo?

Investigating isn’t easy, even with secret help from the county Sheriff. Lenor doesn't feel well; she can't think straight, especially when handsome rancher Michael Martino is nearby. Is he friend or foe?

Desperate, she turns to the Tavera Herbal for advice. But the book is gone, and with it, Lenor's hope.

Stricken with an illness she cannot diagnose or cure, Lenor fears she is the target of a killer who seems to know as much of evil as the Taveras know of good.