Estrella deMadrigal grew up in the small village of Encaleflora Spain in the 1500's. This had been her family's home for over 500 years.

Estrella, 16 years of age, lived with her mother and her grandparents. While she felt shunned by her grandparents her mother taught her about love and valuable life lessons.

One day Estrella and her best friend Catalina are drawn to a fire in the Plaza. It is a pile of books that is burning and there is a man standing beside the fire with a red circle on his coat identifying him as a Jew. The man was crying and begging the soldiers not to throw his books onto the fire. The soldiers just laughed at him and threw ashes on him.

Early one morning the neighbors of Estrella's family, the Arrias, are arrested for practicing Judaism. The Arrias are Marranos - that is, hidden Jews. They attend a Christian Church but secretly practice Judaism. This was considered heresy and the punishment for heresy was death.

In the Plaza Estrella finds a list posted on how to identify hidden Jews. She notices her family practices those very things. She confronts her grandmother and learns her family are indeed Marranos.

Betrayed by Catalina whom she believed to be her best friend from childhood she witnesses the arrest of her family, the cruelties of the human race and just how evil reality can be.