After fourteen-year-old Celeste Marconi returns to Valparaíso from Maine, she decides to uncover the truth about what happened in Cerro Mariposa during the dictatorship and find her missing friend, Lucila.
When her beloved country, Chile, is taken over by a militaristic, sadistic government, Celeste is sent to America for her safety and her parents must go into hiding before they "disappear."