Doctor Angel Sánchez is 30 years old and returning home from war when he sees and instantly falls in love with Ester Lucero. Ester, then a girl of 11 or 12, stands out from the crowd as he rides in with the other returning revolutionary soldiers. Angel thinks he may have imagined her because she is so lovely.

Angel spends several days going door to door looking for Ester, if only to see whether she is real or imagined. Finally, he finds her at home with her grandmother. They are very poor, and their home is very simple. Angel is ashamed of his love for such a young girl, and he vows to himself that he will “desir[e] Ester Lucero in silence” (112).

Angel takes a job managing the hospital in the little town where Ester lives. He visits her house and teaches her math under her grandmother’s supervision. Ester calls him “Uncle.” As she grows up, Angel remains passionately in love with her but never acts on it. He becomes a respected member of the town, so much so that people try to set him up with a wife, but he always refuses. They wonder if he might be gay.