In 1965 Mexico City, Flavia, a wealthy yet lonely schoolgirl, befriends Veronica, a young orphan girl who has a fascination with witchcraft. Veronica convinces Flavia that she is a real witch and forces her to be her assistant. The children's games gradually become more serious and Veronica demands more from Flavia.

A rumor reaches a small town, San Garabato, that a government infiltrator will arrive to check the conditions of the community. Quickly, the municipal president, Don Perpetuo del Rosal, orders the imprisonment of those who might give a bad image. An indigenous man named Calzonzin arrives in town, pursued by two men. He is quickly taken as the infiltrated inspector, and protected by all the local authorities.

Leon Alastray is an outlaw who has been given sanctuary by Father John, whom he then escorts to the village of San Sebastian. The village is deserted, with its cowardly residents hiding in the hills from Indians, who regularly attack the village and steal all their supplies. When Father John is murdered, the villagers mistakenly think the outlaw is the priest. Alastray at first tells them he is not a priest, but they don't believe it, and an apparent miracle seems to prove they are correct. Eventually, he assists them in regaining their confidence and defending themselves.

Santo fights a group of phony spiritualists who are trying to scam his god-daughter out of her 6 million peso inheritance.

Minerva, a middle age writer, decides to break the uncertainty that prevents her from creating the novel that for years she has nested in her mind. Unintentionally, she returns to the port where she was born and she encounters a past full of ghosts and chimeras. Paradoxically, she founds herself because of this journey back home, so she begins writing the story of her life, of her own childhood, with its magical past and tragedy.

When a wandering mercenary named Hogan rescues a nun called Sister Sara from the unwanted attentions of a band of rogues on the Mexican plains, he has no idea what he has let himself in for. Their chance encounter results in the blowing up of a train and a French garrison, as well as igniting a spark between them that survives a shocking discovery.

A woman who fancies herself an aristocrat rejects a potential suitor because he's not of her class. Also: their adult children have their own drama, a bit inflected with hippie-ish values.

Romantic triangle on the hacienda. Ends badly for all concerned.

Tizoc wishes to eat a chicken by himself and have his own piñata. At Christmas his father Carmelo grants his wish.