Isabel Allende's first novel tells the story of a powerful Latin American landowning family. Patriarch Esteban Trueba has built a private empire with an iron fist, but it begins to falter due to the passage of time and an explosive social environment. Ultimately, the patriarch's personal downfall leads the Truebas to a painful disintegration. Trapped in dramatic family relationships, the characters in this powerful novel embody the social and spiritual tensions of an era that encompasses much of this century. With tenderness and impeccable literary style, Isabel Allende portrays the fate of her characters as an inseparable part of the collective destiny of Latin America, characterized by the mixing of cultures, social injustices, and the search for identity.