In the village, everyone calls her Arminuta, the one who has returned. Why was she sent back to her biological parents? Who is her mother? The one who gave birth to her, or the one she grew up with? "At thirteen, I no longer knew my other mother." Thus begins the story of a young girl who is delivered to an unfamiliar family with a suitcase and a bag full of shoes. Her real parents wanted her back, but her so-called father and mother explained nothing more to her. No one seems to have been waiting for her; everyone clearly has other concerns. Food is scarce, the newcomer has to share a bed with her little sister and a room with three brothers. Everything here is foreign: the poverty, the filth, the harsh words. As she searches for a way back to her sheltered life in the small house by the beach.