This is very intense novel that takes place during a period of intense deforestation and colonization of the forest in Quintana Roo, Mexico. It takes place mostly in Wayak', a small Maya village in the rain forests of Quintana Roo. Gabriel Angaros, a young agronomist from Mexico City, arrives at Wayak' to develop a research on soil taxonomy and is slowly drawn into a romantic relationship with Carmelita, a mestiza from Tizimín, and into the vortex of an indigenous uprising.