Mexico is in the midst of Revolution when the protagonist returns after studying in Paris to find his native town in Chihuahua occupied by Francisco Villa’s revolutionary forces. He visits his deserted home and remembers people and events from his adolescence that provide glimpses of pre-Revolutionary society under dictatorship: his uncle, the chief of police; his sister’s involvement with a liberal political association; bathing with the girls from a local brothel; a labor strike that ended in a massacre. Returning to the present he discovers that his father has been assassinated and, in the company of his father’s former servant, joins the revolutionary movement.

Alberto is a journalist who remembers an event 15 years ago, when his friend Gabriel saved a girl from a fire suffering third-degree burns. When he tells the story to his friends, one of them asks him to write it with realism, so Alberto comes back to his old town to meet Gabriel again.

Katy Caterpillar lives in a cherry tree deep in the forest, but she longs to see the wide world. When she finally gets her chance, she meets lots of fascinating characters along the way.