The book follows a girl called Rain, and this is from the time she was ten in Colombia 1927—two years after her parents died in a fire. She is forced to flee her village after telling a dangerous secret. Her best friend, Cabello, takes her into the jungle in the hope of finding a place where she won't only hide but live. She grows up solitary but happy in a place she calls her oasis, accompanied by the finger monkeys that take up residence in her great tree by the water, but that's only where it begins. From beginning to end, this book is interspersed with Muisca traditions—an indigenous tribe of Colombia. Filled to the brim with symbolism, it clearly expresses the strength and power of women. The underlying theme is that good and evil are both needed to create balance and balance with nature will create peace.