For the peaceful highlanders of Guatemala, life has become a nightmare. Helicopters slash like machetes through the once-quiet air. Soldiers patrol the streets, hunting down suspected guerillas. Villagers mysteriously disappear and children are recruited as soldiers. Tomasas family is growing increasingly desperate, especially after Mama goes into hiding with Tomasas oldest brother. Finally, after their house is razed to the ground and the villagers massacred, Tomasa, Manuelito, and baby Maria set off with Papa on a perilous journey to find Mama and Carlos, only to discover that where one journey ends, another begins. This gripping novel tells the story of how Tomasas family survives the Guatemalan army's brutal regime and how, in the midst of tragedy, their love and loyalty and Papa's storytelling keeps them going on their harrowing journey as refugees to the United States. Mirrored in the tapestries of Tomasas dreams, the dramatic events of the Guatemalan armys "scorched earth" campaign of the 1980s are tempered with hope and the generosity of the human spirit.