Josefina and her sisters distrust learning to read and write, as well as other changes their T�ia Dolores is bringing to the household, because they fear they will lose their memories of their mother.
Josefina hopes to become a "curandera" or healer like T�ia Magdalena, and she is tested just before her tenth birthday when a friend receives a potentially fatal snakebite.
When T�ia Dolores, the beloved aunt who has cared for the Montoya family since the death of their mother, announces that she is planning to leave, Josefina and her sisters try to find a way to change her mind.
In 1825 when Josefina trusts a trader in Santa Fe with an important deal, she makes a surprising discovery about this young American who leaves town without paying her.