The Astonishing Story of the Saint of Cabora is a fictional re-creation of the life of Teresa Urrea, a popular Mexican heroine at the turn of the century. In her teens she began to manifest miraculous healing powers. Her fame quickly spread among the ill and disheartened, and thousands made the pilgrimage to see her. Teresa's sense of justice and her sympathy for the poor and oppressed drew her into political intrigue against the dictator Porfirio Diaz.

Exiled to the United States, she continued to heal and inspire until her untimely death.