The mythical or, more accurately, the invented town of Parian is the last stop for people who have lost their way. Several people find a refuge here and sit in a local cantina staring into glasses of mezcal as if God could be found at the bottom. They are people haunted by loss of love, guilt, pain or desire for revenge--like the armed old man Ismael, who has been on the run from his cousin's vendetta for 50 years, or like the writer Antonio, whose wife has left him and their childless marriage, or like the owner of the cantina, whose wish to die in her sleep has so far been ignored by God. For these characters and others, Parian is the waiting room of hell, where the mezcal invites them to drink so you see things and recount them.