In the early years of the conquest of the Americas, Ins Surez, a seamstress condemned to a life of toil, flees Spain to seek adventure in the New World. As Ins makes her way to Chile, she begins a fiery romance with Pedro de Valdivia, war hero and field marshal to the famed Francisco Pizarro. Together the lovers will build the new city of Santiago, and they will wage war against the indigenous Chileansa bloody struggle that will change Ins and Valdivia forever, inexorably pulling each of them toward separate destinies. is a work of breathtaking scope that masterfully dramatizes the known events of Ins Surez's life, crafting them into a novel rich with the narrative brilliance and passion readers have come to expect from Isabel Allende.