Father Juan Ibarra is a physician and a newcomer to the Spanish frontier in Alta California. He has been sent there to address the problems of sickness and disease, which devastates the native population. He soon discovers that the diseases which the Spanish have brought to this new frontier are not the only problems he must address. 18^th Century California is a wild, untamed area and death by violence is as common as death by disease.

Father Juan soon discovers that the California Missions are not the idyllic scenes of happy, smiling Indians, and benevolent, kind Franciscans he has been told they are. An overwhelming array of political, racial and sexual conflicts are buried in the Spanish effort at colonization