Content Warning: This section of the guide describes the text’s treatment of child abuse, violence against Indigenous people, violence against women, and the violent actions of an oppressive political regime, including several scenes of mass murder.

Cayetana Chávez is also known as la Semalú (the Hummingbird) by the people of Tomás Urrea. She gives birth to her daughter on an October morning as people around her prepare for Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead).

Tomás, the patrón (boss and owner) of a ranch. He and his foreman, Segundo, have recently returned from a trip to the sea to pick up his best friend, the engineer Don Lauro Aguirre. On their return journey, they stop at El Farolito cantina and speak of the government’s need to control the Indigenous population. Tomás also talks to his friend, Lieutenant Enríquez, about his hatred of bandits.

The day before Cayetana gives birth, she walks across the ranch and meets a man on the road eating cherries. He offers them to her and tells her that she will have a girl.