In 1961, a Hollywood movie company came to tiny Polvo, Texas, to film a movie about Pancho Villa. However, the film was dogged with trouble, not least of which was a man found murdered on an island in the middle of the Rio Grande, and the case was never solved.

Now, forty years later, trading-post owner Texana Jones is hosting a video crew shooting a special celebrating the film's anniversary. Most of the townspeople are excited by this event, but some want nothing to do with the project. On the day the townspeople gather to meet the actors, the RV belonging to actor Dane Anthony catches fire and explodes. Is it an accident or arson? And who is the mysterious river watcher in the camouflage suit?

While Texana's veterinarian husband Clay fights to save several abandoned horses, Texana searches in the past for a key to the present danger and makes some startling discoveries about her own family and about the conflicting presence of the movie people forty years earlier. But when a local child goes missing, Texana relies on a freelance reporter to help her discover who is behind all this trouble and whether or not the death of the villista is connected to present-day events. As the past and present converge, Texana slowly begins to uncover a motive for all the evil, but has she done it in time to prevent further tragedy?