Journey One

The story begins on Christmas 1988. The protagonist Alonzo/Alonso is riding on a bus crossing the Andes into Argentina from Santiago, Chile. He is traveling to San Francisco (Crdoba) to visit his exchange-student host family for the first time in ten years. During this journey, he is confronted with memories of the past through a continuous series of flashbacks. These include growing up black in a racially divided Chicago; the lingering effects of a sexual assault at ten; living in Madrid, Spain for two years; and his first visit to Argentina as an American Field Service participant, arriving to the town of San Francisco on his host brother's birthday and a day before Argentina won its first World Cup soccer championship. The first part ends when his host brother Sergio is smitten with a beautiful young travel agent assisting them in rearranging Alonso's return ticket to the States.

Journey Two

Alonzo returns to Argentina after one year and three months to be his host brother's best man; Sergio is marrying the young lady who assisted them in the travel agency. Alonso's week-long stay and, in particular, Sergio's wedding day, are highlighted. This section ends at the Córdoba International Airport with Alonzo giving his good-byes to his host parents.

Journey Three

The final portion focuses on specific events from 1994–2009. It begins in July 1994 with the death of Alonso's mother, followed eight months later by the death of a sister from cancer. Subsequent chapters highlight his relocation from Lafayette, Indiana, to Ann Arbor, Michigan (with a month-long stay in Toledo, Ohio, during the OJ Simpson trial proceedings) and finding employment at the University of Michigan; traveling to Argentina in 1997, and again in 1999 for the last time; and finally, corresponding with Sergio in December 2009 from Santiago, Chile, before returning to the States after visiting a friend in Viña del Mar.