When Liliana decides to return to Uruguay she will have to face up to a new dilemma, perhaps the last great dilemma of her life: To choose between supporting a collective case for female prisoners, raped during the time of the dictatorship, or to reconcile with her son and be able to live peacefully as a mother and a grandmother.

Aurelio Saravia is a powerful politician who holds office in Uruguay in the mid-1960's. When Aurelio's mistress kills herself, he adopts their illegitimate daughter Masangeles despite the stern objections of his wife Aurora. Masangeles finds herself growing up in a home ruled by a corrupt and self-centered tyrant and his manic colleagues while Uruguay teeters on the brink of civil war as bands of revolutionaries battle government militias. When she turns fourteen, Masangeles discovers a secret passageway in their home that leads to sanctuary in a nearby church which also serves as a storehouse for guns and ill-gotten cash. Teenage Masangeles falls in love with Santiago, her stepbrother who has joined the rebels fighting against the state, and she persuades him to take her virginity.