For Catalina, days pass in hypnotic calm at the hacienda in Colutla. Her serenity is shaken by repressed childhood memories that are returning with more frequency. The arrival of the mysterious traveler Joaquín injects new life, sense, and enthusiasm into her days. She barely perceives that the presence of this stranger threatens her marriage, her relationship with her sister Eugenia--the only constant in her life--and the future of the hacienda. In a tale that brings to mind the great Latin American masters and embraces the life and customs of a sugar plantation, Catalina seeks to reconnect with the world of those who live and feel while fighting against a past that threatens to reemerge.