Urania Cabral, a New York lawyer, returns to the Dominican Republic after a lifelong self-imposed exile. Urania's own story alternates with the powerful climax of dictator Rafael Trujillo's reign. In 1961, Trujillo's decadent inner circle - which includes Urania's soon-to-be disgraced father - enjoys the luxuries of privilege while the rest of the nation lives in fear and deprivation. But after the murder of its hated dictator is carried out, the Dominican Republic is plunged into the nightmare of a bloody and uncertain aftermath. Now, thirty years later, Urania reveals how her own family was fatally wounded by the forces of history.