Renato Cisneros's great-great-grandmother Nicolasa bore seven children
by her long-term secret love, who was also her priest, raising them
alone in nineteenth century Peru. More than a century later, Renato, the
descendent of that clandestine affair, struggles to wring information
about his origins out of recalcitrant relatives, whose foibles match the
adventures and dalliances of their ancestors. As buried secrets are
brought into the light, the story of the Nicholas's progeny unfolds,
bound up with key moments in the development of the Republic of Peru
since its independence.