Inside the cave looking out at the falls.El Salto del Agua takes place in Taos, New Mexico during two momentous periods—the 2020 Pandemic and the summer of 1929, during Mabel Dodge Luhan’s reign as the doyenne of Taos. At the height of the pandemic, Louise Sanchez, who recently retired from the police force, is sequestered in her Santa Fe condo. Pascal Ruiz, caretaking the D. H. Lawrence Ranch in Taos, invites Louise to visit. The day after she arrives, Taos suffers a record-breaking snowstorm. Louise sequestered at the ranch, finds a 1929 newspaper article about the disappearance of a young woman, Iris Barron. Barron had spent the summer interviewing Luhan for a Profile piece for the New Yorker magazine. A week before Iris is scheduled to return to New York, she borrows a pueblo pony to explore El Salto de Agua cave. She disappears without a trace. Louise and Pascal attempt to discover what happened to Iris Barron and solve a ninety-year-old cold case.