Adolfo-master tattoo artist, heroin addict, AIDs patient-has found a home, a place he believes will restore him up in the high-desert pastures and rugged mountains of Nuevo Mexico.

He has found a community-los penitentes, a lay brotherhood of the Catholic church known for their charity, and their acts of penance, including self-flagellation.

And he has met a girl...

He brings the innocent, young Maggie back to the filthy, derelict Airstream where he practices his body art-a trailer that once served as the base of operations for the area's most notorious heroin dealers. Adolfo has no idea, however, that the drug kingpin who owns the trailer is really an undercover FBI agent-or that he's setting Maggie up to get caught in the crossfire when the sins of the past come back to exact penance.

Sacred Ink is a story about the brutality of love-and the harrowing path to redemption.