When Martha Consuelos unexpectedly returns to her mother's house, a place that's all damage, to finish high school, all eyes are upon her, not least those of neighbour Omar, who is as transfixed by her newly mature body as he is unsettled by her brilliant mind.

Descended from a line of brilliant women, including her great-grandmother, Ana Quintero, an infamous revolutionary soldadera, Martha is a gifted student who dares to dream big. So why is it that her community seems more interested in crushing her than raising her up?

Over the course of a year, Martha and Omar will become closer than close, and it's through his eyes that a multi-generational saga unfolds and we come to understand the way old forces, and the tangled history of the US and Mexico, lead Martha, like Ana before her, to a tragic end.