The year is 1924. Esperanza Ortega is the six-year-old daughter of a rich Mexican landowner named Sixto. She adores her father, who takes her out into the fields to study the grapes. Her father says that the land is alive and that you can feel it breathing. Esperanza lays down on the earth and listens for its heartbeat as “[s]he stared at Papa, not wanting to say a word. Not wanting to lose the sound. Not wanting to forget the feel of the heart of the valley” (3).

The story skips forward to the day before Esperanza’s 13th birthday. She is in charge of the ceremonial grape cutting that begins the annual grape harvest. Esperanza is also excited at the prospect of her birthday presents and the traditional serenade she will receive from her beloved father and his farmworkers.

Esperanza, her mother Ramona, and her grandmother Abuelita all await Sixto’s return. Night falls, and the men are still gone. Then, Esperanza’s two uncles arrive. They are her father’s older stepbrothers. She says, “Tío Luis was the bank president, and Tío Marco was the mayor of the town. Esperanza didn’t care how important they were because she did not like them.