The prologue begins with 66-year-old Camila Henríquez contemplating her future. She is the daughter of the Dominican Republic’s national poet, Salomé, and its former president, Pancho Henríquez. Camila’s birth name is Salomé Camila, but she feels unworthy to use her mother’s name, so she goes by her middle name of Camila. Her story is told by an omniscient narrator because Camila prefers to fade into the background rather than take center stage.

Camila has just reached retirement age and is considering what to do with the rest of her life. For the past 20 years, she has taught Hispanic studies at Vassar College. Now feeling age creep up on her, she wants to devote the remainder of her life to a worthwhile cause. Camila has decided to move to Havana to become part of Castro’s revolution. Her friend Marion has agreed to drive her to Key West where she will take a ferry the rest of the way.

The story now switches to Salomé’s first-person narration of her life story. She begins her tale as a six-year-old in 1856. In her native country of the Dominican Republic, revolutions occur on a weekly basis. She can’t keep track of who is in power—the blues or the reds.