Bitter Winds from the Rio Grande

Xjavier Sanchez, a teenaged orphan, is the ward of his loving, but roguish uncle, a poor candelilla cutter and tequila smuggler. The place is the southern bank of the Rio Grande, the time is 1916, the apex of the Mexican Revolution.

While at Glenn Spring, north of the river where the love of Xjavier's life resides, the town is raided by Mexican Banditos.

Their lives, changed forever. Xjavier and Delicia and family are forced to flee. During this panicked time, the young couple is befriended, and employed by the dubious Jim Ed Miller.

Xjavier joins the Army, expecting to be returned to the Rio Grande to guard against Pancho Villa.

He is shipped off to World War One. Returning he finds Delicia gravely ill with the Spanish flu and he is pursued relentlessly by Analisa, nurse and sister of Delicia.