Reyna relates a story that sets up the book’s themes and introduces the readers to key terms and characters. At age four, Reyna hears the story of La Llorona, a Mexican witch figure. Reyna’s paternal grandmother tells her that, if she misbehaves, La Llorona will kidnap her and her siblings, and they will never see their parents again. Reyna’s maternal grandmother, on the other hand, reassures her that prayer will protect her from La Llorona. Reyna comes to understand that the lure of life in the United States is much stronger than La Llorona; her father, in fact, has already moved to El Otro Lado—the other side of the Mexican-American border. Regardless of Reyna’s prayers, her mother, too, would soon leave her behind to go to America.

In Iguala, located in the Mexican state of Guerrero, Reyna learns that her mother is leaving for America. Reyna, only four years old, will be left behind with her eight-and-a-half-year-old sister, Mago, and her brother Carlos, nearly seven. As the children move in with their paternal grandmother, Evila, Reyna makes certain to bring a framed photograph of her father, who left for America when Reyna was two. Her father plans to work and save money in America to build a proper home in Mexico.