After separating from her husband and being evicted from her apartment in California, Teresa returns to Mexico and eventually settles in Mexico City. Alicia goes with her before returning home to New York. In the present day, Teresa tells Alicia that she’s begun writing about their time in Mexico, which makes Alicia shudder.

Alicia visits Teresa in Mexico, where Alvaro Pérez Pérez has invited them and some other friends to visit his family’s ranch. Alvaro is in love with Teresa, but she doesn’t know it at the time. He shows her the town on the day of her arrival, then takes her to his brother’s house and leaves her with his sister-in-law, who assumes Teresa is Alvaro’s lover. She tells Teresa that Alvaro is the only heir to a large fortune. Alvaro visits Teresa’s room that night to bring her a mango but leaves soon after. She meets his parents after they attend church the following morning. Alvaro’s father is indifferent to her, but his mother is hostile, assuming that Teresa wants to marry her son for his fortune, despite Teresa’s assurances that she’s just there with a group of Alvaro’s friends.