When footloose American Santee St. John first meets Margaret Mayfield in Central America, he is technically still working for NewsReal--as a living camera hired to record real-time events that will enhance the virtual experiences of millions of Web slaves. But Santee has lost his taste for the job, having been informed that the cold-blooded massacre of innocents by government troops in the troubled Mexican state of Chiapas--a horrific, life-altering event he witnessed, absorbed and dutifully recorded---will never be made public. In Santee, Margaret recognizes a kindred spirit--a soul out of place in the modern Web-dominated world; a potential crusader, enraged by the suffering and senseless bloodshed, yet enchanted, like she, by the vibrant life in this timeless, paradoxical place called Mexico. Soon after meeting, Santee and Margaret are working together for the noble--if seemingly doomed--Zapatista cause. And soon after that, they are lovers, in the most intense and truest sense of the word.
Until Santee vanishes into the lush and dangerous wilds of the Third World.
Though she has lost all touch with him, Margaret knows Santee is still alive. His enemies have reported him dead---but his coffin contains the body of someone else. Now, with the aid of Webster Webfoot---a teenage "webkicker" who has rejected the virtual life enthusiastically embraced by most of the world--Margaret is abandoning a desolate Texas "rack-and-stack" wasteland to return to the only man and the only land she could ever love...no matter how many obstacles and men with guns she must deal with along the way.
On a planet going rapidly to Hell--whose residents with resources spend each day plugged happily into big lies and shared fantasies--the fate of one man of conscience seems insignificant. Yet, in his wake, Santee has left clues to the ultimate conspiratorial outrage. And the closer Margaret and Webster come to him, the more they can see of the road to total
