The Legend of Juan Miguel

When the privileged son of a rich Tejano rancher makes the near-fatal mistake of falling in love with the wrong woman, he loses everything—even his identity—then devises an ingenious plan of switching identities to win it all back. Set in Texas in the late 1800s, The Legend of Juan Miguel is a hero's journey played out against the backdrop of the emerging West.

Juan Miguel’s love for the wife of his father’s rival, an Anglo rancher, triggers a tortured journey of passion, love, loss, and redemption. When rancher Ben Barone discovers his wife, Marguerite, and Juan Miguel are in love, he seeks revenge by unjustly confiscating Juan Miguel’s rancho, kidnapping him, and rigging his trial for horse thievery in Mexico.

Three years later, Juan Miguel has escaped from Mexican prison and taken on the persona of Primo, a notorious bandito who robs and raids from his home base in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico into Texas. He returns to Texas to reclaim his lost love and his stolen rancho with the help of the bandito disguise and the persona of a Spanish dandy named Martin Zamora. In an elaborate con, Juan Miguel juggles his identities as he fights the powerful ranchers and their political allies.

A man with many faces, Juan Miguel nevertheless retains his core identity and love for Marguerite throughout the whole ordeal. In the end, his fame and exploits threaten to catch up with him and his identities are about to be revealed, at the same time his dreams are within reach.