After a dramatically spoiled attempt to rob a bank in Los Angeles, Bruce has hit rock bottom in life. He has the burning desire to leave everything behind and start a new life. Maybe even at a “magical place” in South America so vividly described in a young lady’s diary. An abandoned orange farm on the coast of Columbia.

Bruce received the book just a few days ago in the mail. Maria, from Del Rio, sent it to him. Ten years ago, the two of them had a difficult relationship with one another, one which Bruce one day suddenly ended. And now he wonders how Maria found him after all these years and why she sent him this unknown woman’s diary.

The notes describe her sojourn at this special place on the Columbian coast, 20 miles southwest of Cartagena, and her troublesome return to Alabama. When he finds several disturbing photos in the diary, which for some reason seem familiar to him, he starts to think that he must have some sort of connection to this mysterious young woman. Again and again, he is overcome with fragmented, dark memories. When he finally reaches Maria the next evening, he discovers a few very unsettling things about himself.

As the federal authorities and the New York police close in on him, he takes off on a desperate search for his true identity.