Seven-year-old Chula lives in a gated community in Bogotá with her nine-year-old sister Cassandra and their mother, Alma (Mamá). Mamá hires a new maid, the 13-year-old Petrona. Petrona lives in an “invasión,” a term for “government land taken over by the displaced and the poor” (4). Mamá grew up in an invasión, but she climbed the socioeconomic ladder to the upper middle class—perhaps by disreputable means (19).

Before Petrona’s arrival, Mamá consults tarot cards regarding Petrona’s trustworthiness. Because she draws a card depicting a fool, Mamá worries that Petrona might betray the family. The girls’ Papá, Antonio Santiago, is absent for long stretches because he works “at an oil site far away in Sincelejo” (5). Mamá is beautiful, commanding, and superstitious. Male admirers visit her while Papá is away, and the girls know not to tell their father about these visits.

When Petrona arrives for her first day of work, Mamá warns her to stay away from the tree in their yard. The girls call it “el Borrachero, the Drunken Tree” (7) because its flowers and fruits are poisonous. The scent alone causes dizziness and fainting, and the fruit and flowers are used in a “date-rape drug” (8) called burundanga that causes drowsiness, inhibition, and amnesia.