When Pancho arrives at St. Anthony's Home, he knows his time there will be short.

If his plans succeed, he'll soon be arrested for the murder of his sister's killer.

But then he's assigned to help DQ, whose brain cancer has slowed neither his spirit nor his mouth.

DQ tells Pancho all about his "Death Warrior's Manifesto", which will help him to live out his last days fully - ideally, he says, with the love of the beautiful Marisol.

As Pancho tracks down his sister's murderer, he finds himself falling under the influence of DQ and Marisol, and beginning to understand that there's more to life than revenge and more to death than sadness. "I love Francisco's books. They make you bigger inside after reading them" Maggie Stiefvater