Just before Thanksgiving in 1960, 11-year-old Anita’s life turns upside down. Tía Laura, Carla, and the rest of Anita’s cousins flee from the Dominican Republic to New York. Lots of Anita’s family members have left recently—now, Anita’s nuclear family (and their Haitian maid, Chucha) are the only ones left at the family compound.
The next morning, SIM (the Dominican secret police) agents search Anita’s house for Carla’s family but they don’t find anything. Over the next few days, the SIM agents’ cars stay parked outside. Nobody will tell Anita anything—Anita’s older sister Lucinda says that nobody will talk because the SIM might be listening. She finally tells Anita that they live under a dictator, El Jefe, whom nobody likes, and that the SIM are after their missing uncle, Tío Toni. Anita is confused—she thought that everyone loved El Jefe.
A few days later, the American consul, Mr. Washburn, moves in next door. Anita befriends Mr. Washburn’s son, Sam, while Lucinda befriends his daughter, Susie. The children return to school, where Anita learns that other countries have instituted an embargo (trade ban) against the Dominican Republic; her teacher won’t explain why. Mysterious things continue to happen—for instance, Anita and Sam see that someone is living in Tío Toni’s house.
Around Christmastime, Anita celebrates her 12th birthday. When she gets a diary for Christmas and starts writing in it, she realizes that she’s in love with Sam. In January, school is postponed for several weeks because many of the American students are going home for President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. Around this time, Anita finds out that some people are hiding from the SIM in embassies, and that others are being tortured in El Jefe’s prisons.
Soon after this, Mami finally talks to Anita like an adult, explaining that Papi is fighting for their freedom. She also tells Anita that Tío Toni has returned, but Anita needs to avoid drawing attention to him for his safety. Finally, Mami asks Anita to stop writing in her diary; they must be quiet and sneaky until they can escape.
Meanwhile, Susie’s 15th birthday is coming up, and she talks her parents into throwing her a big quinceañera party. Around this time, Tío Toni begins eating meals with Anita’s family and hosting groups of men at his house. On the night of the party, a line of Volkswagens comes up the drive. Mami sends Anita to warn Tío Toni that Mr. Smith (a codename for El Jefe) is here, which makes Anita feel very grown up but also very afraid. Later, when she and Papi arrive at the party, they salute El Jefe.
The next morning, Lucinda receives roses from El Jefe—he often rapes young girls, and Lucinda seems to be his next target. Mr. Washburn devises a plan to get Lucinda out of the country, but Tío Toni doesn’t think it’ll work. He and Papi then discuss killing El Jefe, which Anita finds disturbing. However, Papi he tells her that they’re not just killing El Jefe—they’re carrying out justice. That night, Anita sleeps in Lucinda’s bed; in the morning, she discovers that she’s gotten her first period. She’s a señorita now—but Anita doesn’t want to grow up now that she knows what El Jefe does to señoritas.
On the day that Lucinda leaves the Dominican Republic, Anita is distraught and frightened. That same day, Anita’s teacher announces that school is closing, and Anita spends the rest of the day in bed, feeling disoriented. That afternoon, Papi sits with Anita and tells her to be free and fly.
Men—including Papi, Tío Toni, and Mr. Washburn—soon begin meeting every night outside Anita’s window. Anita can hear everything, and she finds out that the Washburns will be leaving the country. But when Mami finds out that Anita can hear the men talking outside, they start meeting at Tío Toni’s house instead.
Anita feels like everything is changing. She seldom talks, she’s afraid all the time, and she’s no longer in love with Sam. One morning, as Mr. Washburn drives Anita, her friend Oscar Mancini, and her brother Mundín to go study, someone rear ends them and breaks the trunk—and in the trunk, Anita sees guns. When a policeman comes to help secure the trunk, he says nothing about the guns.
A few weeks later, Anita, Oscar, and Oscar’s sisters watch El Jefe’s afternoon parade. Once Anita and Oscar are alone, Oscar admits that he’s afraid and kisses Anita. Soon after, Papi arrives to pick Anita and Mundín up. He seems nervous. Papi then goes out with his friends and comes home hours later with the news that they succeeded. Everyone is ecstatic until they realize that they can’t find a man named Pupo. Papi goes back out. In the morning, when the SIM find El Jefe’s body in the back of Papi’s car, they arrest Papi and Tío Toni. The Mancinis come to take Anita and Mami to safety.
After this, Anita begins writing in her diary again. Now, she and Mami are living in the Mancinis’ walk-in closet (unbeknownst to Oscar), while Mundín is hiding at the Italian embassy. Hiding is both boring and frightening. Anita learns that Trujillo Junior is in control of the country and is punishing everyone who was involved in his father’s assassination.
As the weeks wear on, Mami and Anita continue to hide out, and Mami is constantly on edge. Anita, meanwhile, thinks more and more about Oscar. They have a couple of close calls: SIM come to the house, and Oscar finds out that Anita and Mami are hiding in his house. Eventually, the Mancinis evacuate Mundín from the embassy by dressing him as a girl and sneaking him onto an Italian cruise ship. A week or so later, Anita hears rallies taking place outside. She hears a roar and goes to her hiding place—she’s afraid that the SIM are coming for her, but it’s actually fellow members of the resistance coming to airlift them to New York.
Six weeks later, in September of 1961, Anita and Mami are in New York living in a hotel with Anita’s grandparents. They wait for news about Papi and Tío Toni, who are still in prison. Anita sits in on classes at the local Catholic school and writes everything she remembers about the Dominican Republic for her assignments.
One afternoon in late October, Anita returns home to that find Mr. Washburn is there; everyone is crying. Papi and Tío Toni are dead—the SIM murdered them and four others after Trujillo Junior agreed to step down. In the weeks that follow, Anita gets a letter from Oscar. He tells her that because of her father, the Dominican Republic is going to have democratic elections for the first time in 30 years.
After this, Mami, Lucinda, Mundín, and Anita move in with Carla’s family in Queens. On Thanksgiving, after the main meal, Mami reveals a cake—they’re going to celebrate Anita’s 13th birthday early, while the extended family is together. Then, the children go outside to play in the snow. Anita feels like the snow is cleansing, and she joins her cousins in making snow angels. Later, when Anita looks out the window at the snow angels, she thinks that they look more like butterflies than angels. She decides that this is a sign and promises Papi that she’ll try to be free.
