The townspeople of Solvidado regretted the senseless loss of life when the lovers, Thomas and Penelope, drove their wagon over the cliff to escape pursuers, but not nearly so much as the disappearance of the gold they had stolen. Ever since the tragedy, treasure hunters have searched Solvidado and its environs for the hidden gold.

A hundred years later in a hotel, April, a new bride, prepares to take her own life. Her husband, Philip, just stormed out of the room in a rage. Ravela, a demon from April’s past, has reappeared and convinced her that the only cure for her hopelessness is death. But then Aquino, a cat burglar, breaks into the bridal suite and interrupts her preparations. He persuades April to delay her suicide for the night. He has the strange idea that she is uniquely able to help him find the treasure by reliving the events leading up to the pursuit over the cliff. They exit the hotel off the third story balcony. 

Meanwhile Philip has met Jacinto, the ghost of a Portuguese undertaker, a witness to the tragedy, who assures him the gold is where an honest person would hide it. Jacinto offers to guide him through Solvidado and narrate the story of Thomas while Philip tries to solve the riddle. 

April and Philip each set off on harrowing nighttime journeys that take them into the previous century where they encounter the unusual love affair between Thomas, a man who lives well but has no apparent source of income, and Penelope, a young woman who always wears a veil in public . April and Philip each discover in their time travel different pieces of the puzzle of the missing gold that can only be made sense of if they reunite. Among the pieces they have to put together are a child lost in Paris, a master who is a servant, a locked door to a cold room, a rancher with a scarred lip out for revenge, a high-stakes poker game for the hand of a young woman, a foggy night, a burning wagon, a Portuguese undertaker and his pig. 

However, before the mystery is solved and the treasure discovered, April must first teeter on the edge of the same cliff and wrestle with her demon Ravela.