Teresa writes to Alicia, planning their reunion in LA, after which they intend to drive down to Mixquiahuala. Several characters are introduced in the letter, including Teresa’s aunt Filomena, her uncles Fermín and Chino, and her cousins Peloncito, Eddie, and Ignacio. Peloncito is a developmentally disabled young man, Ignacio has left his wife in Mexico, and Eddie lives in Germany and has had a sex change operation. Chino is hostile toward women and believes they’re incompetent. Among this group of male characters is Teresa’s aunt Filomena, who has been married to Fermín for 30 years but was previously involved with a man in Mexico who fathered her two oldest children.

Teresa reflects on turning 30 and reveals that she was once married but later left her first husband, whose name is Libra. She muses on the evolution of “meaning” in marriage into something “measured by how many items one owns with designers’ names in bold view, a Caribbean cruise for a honeymoon and a lifetime membership in a health spa/tennis club” (22). Alicia, who is presumably about the same age, has never been married, which Teresa says could cause consternation among her older relatives.