Highland Guatemala, 1954. As civil war looms, three women are brought together by an archaeological dig. Meg Fuente, a Chicago native, is the wife of the archaeologist and mother of their four-year-old son. While her husband unearths an ancient town with mysterious origins, Meg befriends members of a revolutionary labor party. Noemi, an indigenous girl from an impoverished town, is elated that her older brother is foreman at the dig but worries that some Elders predict disaster for digging up their ancestors’ land. Patricia, an upper-class teenager, is determined to excavate despite the opposition of her right-wing, violent father and her own aversion to working under an Indian foreman. At the Fuentes’ dig, a startling discovery sets in motion a chain of events with terrible consequences.