Sometimes, monsters hide behind a polite smile.

Angela Castro is an unhappy, frightened young woman married to a man her family and friends see as an ideal husband—handsome, wealthy, and seemingly devoted to his wife. Pregnant and desperate, Angela flees to a married cousin in Venezuela, where she slowly remakes her life. In time, she meets a Chilean professor exiled for speaking out against the military dictatorship's assault on academic freedom.

Over the next decade, the two of them and a small circle of Chilean exiles in Caracas build new lives in their adopted country. During their long exile, young children grow to adulthood, parents die without the comfort of their children still in exile, and the exiled Chileans advance their careers in a foreign land. Finally, the Pinochet years end, and it's safe to go home. But should the?