Their Latin America honeymoon turned nightmare, a couple from the United States collide with the life and death struggles of a faltering revolution and a military junta with crumbling legitimacy. Also caught in the crossfire, is a family of campesinos comprised of a philosopher father with a secret, a mother who ..". uses poets' words to explain awkward moments, or to create them," a daughter who is the romantic interest of the local Army commander, and two mysterious brothers who might be revolutionaries, all trying to simply survive. A rare and vulnerable butterfly, fabled to inhabit only this humble valley, may hold insights that could transform the lives of those who unknowingly seek to destroy it. As the world claims its victims, many of the inhabitants of the Mariposa Valley experience their own metamorphosis from prickly and self-centered caterpillars to winged butterflies, full of hope and brightness.