Addison comes home one night to find his wife brutally murdered with the words "We're even now". The cops suspect that Addison killed her, and now he must race through the underside of Dallas to find the only other suspect.

Traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria and Jose, the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930s. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni, and Jimmy deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the '50s. As the second generation become adults in the '60s, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel (a Salvadorian refugee), their son, and Jimmy's journey to becoming a responsible parent.

Detective Lucas McCarthy finally apprehends "Meat Cleaver Max" and watches the electric chair execution from the audience. But killing Max Jenke only elevated him to another level of reality. Now Lucas' family is under attack, his sanity in question, and his house haunted. Aided by a disreputable college professor, can Lucas reclaim his mind, house, and family?

Detective McCarthy finally catches "Meat Cleaver Max", a serial killer, who promises revenge during his execution. Nonetheless, a parapsychologist tells the detective that the only hope of stopping Max for good is to destroy his spirit.

An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.