Maria is Pedro's oldest daughter, who was supposed to marry well and carry on the family's noble legacy. But Maria had other plans for herself. She fled to New York City in her early twenties to study art, and immerse herself in the bohemian culture of lower Manhattan. When she returns to South Texas, she reconnects with her childhood acquaintance, Pete McCullough; and together they become complicit in some of the region's escalating violence. These shared experiences will bring Pete and Maria closer together over the course of the series.