Escaping a crumbling marriage and a frigid Calgary winter, Shari Shapiro?a retired teacher and an Italian Jewish immigrant?flees to Puerto Vallarta (PV), Mexico. Despite the lush, vibrant surroundings, she grieves her mother's death. Since family ghosts appear whenever she enters a bathroom, death is never far from her thoughts. Yet she longs to embrace life again. She also struggles with issues faced by other baby boomers such as retirement.Eager for tequila to dull her pain, Shari heads to a bar on Playa Los Muertos, Beach of the Dead. Here she meets Carlos, a skittish, but sexy, former revolutionary who mourns the death of his wife. He strongly resembles Subcomandante Marcos, the legendary Zapatista leader, a post-modern Che Guevara. Paramilitaries stalk Shari and Carlos and the danger grows as does their attraction to each other. Together they end up supporting Mexico's poverty-stricken beach vendors.