Kino and his wife Juana are two characters faced with everyone's dilemmas, except on a grand scale. They enter the stage of this book on the collapse of their dreams, most cuttingly felt in the death of their son. Now at the worst point, their lives continue. Here even rebuilding hurts them, for it was that very act, that hopes to raise themselves, that has failed. This is their story, the story of their town, and the story of everyone who identifies with it. Kino and Juana walk the steps we all must take.