This story is told through a series of numbered vignettes.

1.

The narrator, a nine-year-old boy named Yunior, and his older, twelve-year-old brother named Rafa are in the Dominican Republic for the summer. They are close to the colmado (corner market) running an errand, when Rafa tilts his head, looks out toward Barabacoa and says that they should pay a person named Ysrael a visit.

2.

Yunior intimates that his mother sends he and Rafa to the campo (Dominican countryside) every summer, because she does not have time nor energy to look after her two sons during the summertime, as she works full time at a chocolate factory. He specifies that, during the summers, he and Rafa live with their tíos (uncles and aunts) in a small wooden house just outside the town of Ocoa.

Yunior states that the campo is full of natural beauty, but that it pales in comparison to their neighborhood in Santo Domingo, as the boys lack activities, television, and electricity. This leaves the boys ill-tempered and restless. Rafa also states that he is going to go wild—dance for four or five days straight and chinga (have sex with) many girls—once they get back home to New Jersey.