The peasant family reluctantly left their original hometown to escape further oppression and persecution from the colonial authorities. Their journey leads them to a new place at Rosales, Pangasinan, under the care of the wealthy mestizo named Don Jacinto, who despite owning large tracts of land, supports his fellow countrymen and indios in their plight. The novelist discusses the life and the origins of this family while embellished with the historical background of the Philippines during the late 1880s up to the early 1990s.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]