My name, for what it's worth, is William Amos Mann the Fourth, and I arrived in Santa Fe on the back of my steel-gray 1977 Kawasaki KZ1000, bringing with me only what I could carry on the back of it: an antique typewriter, some books, and a few articles of clothing. I'd just turned twenty, or so I assumed - my exact date of birth, like my origins, was unknown, so my grandfather had had to invent one on my behalf.

In search of the mother he has never known, Billy is flying south on his motorcycle to her last known address, a side street in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There he encounters as vibrant a cast of characters as the world can offer, including Eliza and her crazy daughter, and Consuelo, a beautiful gypsy Latina.

Consuelo sings at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame bar. She is waiting for stardom, but Billy comes along first. When she finally gets her big break, Consuelo wants him to leave with her for Los Angeles. But Billy has still not told Eliza his secret - that he is the baby she deserted twenty years ago. Life is all about choices and now Billy is faced with the biggest choice of all: Eliza, whom he must know in order to know himself, or Consuelo, the woman he loves more than anyone else in the world.