Actual footage of Penitentes - a sect of Catholic religious fanatics who engage in self-flagellation - is combined with new footage about a murder.

George Mack, a feature writer for a magazine, comes to the Taos, New Mexico region to write a story about the Penitentes cult. He rents a cabin and hire a Penitente boy, Chico, as a houseboy. He then tours the village of Modado, a known-center of Penitentie cultists. A missionary, Dr. Robert Taylor, visits Raquel, a former cultist and former sweetheart of Chico. Raquel is frightened because the Penitentes think her modeling for Manuel, a wealthy artist, is immoral. When learning that Raquel is posing nude, the already-crazed Chico threatens her.—Les Adams <[email protected]>