Mikela, barely thirteen, leaves the farm where she has lived all her life, taken by her widowed mother to a rich house in a nearby town for two reasons – to lighten the load on the family and train her as a servant, a useful skill for her future.

This book describes the life-changing experience of Martín Cortés, a Catalan and Spanish journalist whose boss makes him travel to Mexico on business. About to turn forty and married with a young daughter, he is not particularly happy.

The year is 2055. Huge multinational companies dominate a globalised world and the symbols of a person's identity can be sold on the market through sophisticated advertising techniques.