When the tale opens in the 1870s in a village in northern Mexico, the Caraval family has long been clandestine Jews. To the dismay of his parents, however, Zacarias abandons religion and wanders in the desert, searching for gold.

At home in Saltillo, his wife Estela takes the rare and bold step of declaring herself independent from her husband and raises their children on her own. But as she takes a lover and tries to make her own path, she learns that the time-honored traditions of Saltillo can be tested only so far. Her young brother and sister, androgynous twins with unsettling powers, have already been banished north of the border, where many of the novel's events unfold.

Central to the surprising destinies of these characters, and perhaps even to the future of Mexico, are the momentous events at the ancient and sacred cliff dwellings of Casas Grandes.