Nine-year-old Pablo knows little of the world of villages and towns. His is the peaceful life of a Mexican mountain child. But when his penniless uncle volunteers to take Pablo to the village, he suddenly finds himself involved in a complex society in which antagonism and misunderstanding dominate men's lives. Caught in a feud between two uncles, one sanguine but lazy, the other, wealthy but withdrawn, it is Pablo who reconciles the two men to each other and for himself finds the means to an education. A warm story richly flavored with the spirit of Mexico, its landscape, people, and tempo.