The first novel by Wm. Hovey Smith relates the adventures of a third- generation Louisiana family of Sicilian origin who takes a vacation to their home island and unexpectedly discovers when they arrive on Monday that their two sons are to be married on Friday or none of the family will leave the island alive. He is richly drawing from his experiences as an exploration geologist, decorated combat engineer officer, outdoorsman, art enthusiast, and storyteller interested in archeology. Smith peoples his novel with a variety of characters, including two dissimilar brothers who are to be paired off with two equally different Sicilian ladies who are part of a generations-old Mafia family. Complications arise when a rival gang attacks them, and both Italian and American law enforcement officers shadow the situation as the family tours their homeland. The Americans seek to escape from this situation, but the harder they try, bonds of love and lust tie them together despite the looming possibility of a catastrophic end on Sicily's blood-soaked soil.