 In 1919, demobbed, Gerald Brenan rents a house for a year in Yegan, a village in Alpujarra. He has little but a love of reading and writing. He s soon the center of attention from his maid, María, who has a marriageable daughter, Ángeles; from Paco, a man who decides to guide Gerald in the ways of the village and of love; from the town s priest, his landlady, her friend who loves St. Teresa, and, from Juliana, a teen beauty who s the daughter of a witch. Gerald must sort out his feelings and face down the machinations of the town s women, who map a future he doesn t want. What he wants is romance. How far from his class and country can he venture, and for how long?