Saudades preserves an account of the tumultuous transition of Brazil from 1868, when it was a monarchy and slavery was still legal, into the modern state it is today, told through the lives and observations of two women: Chiquita, a Brazilian, and her granddaughter Annita. Chiquita's stories are expanded as Annita explores the culture of past and present Brazil through the stories of her family, and the old w0men she meets in her grandmother's small Brazilian town. The book deals honestly with issues of race, religion, gender, and most of all, cultural duality. The Brazilian landscape, family life, and Chiquita's husband's work as founder of the YMCA in Latin America comprise important features of Saudades.