When he accompanies his girlfriend to Mexico where she works as a medical researcher, Eric--a historian and a bit of a loner--finds himself with plenty of time on his hands, and he can't resist the opportunity to research some of his own family history. His grandfather traveled to Mexico from England 100 years ago to work at a silver mine in the Sierra Madre, where Eric's father was born. When Eric travels to the town where his grandfather lived, he encounters his grandmother's grave and also some vivid slices of contemporary Mexican life.

Anita Mazumdar Desai (born June 24, 1937) is an Indian novelist and Emeritus John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been shortlisted for the Booker prize three times. Her daughter, the author Kiran Desai, won the 2006 Booker prize.