Journey One: The story begins on Christmas 1988. The protagonist Alonzo/Alonso is riding on a bus crossing the Andes into Argentina from Santiago, Chile. He is traveling to San Francisco (Córdoba) to visit his exchange-student host family for the first time in ten years. During this journey, he is confronted with memories of the past through a continuous series of flashbacks. These include growing up black in a racially divided Chicago; the lingering effects of a sexual assault at ten; living in Madrid, Spain for two years; and his first visit to Argentina as an American Field Service participant, arriving to the town of San Francisco on his host brother's birthday and a day before Argentina won its first World Cup soccer championship. The first part ends when his host brother Sergio is smitten with a beautiful young travel agent assisting them in rearranging Alonzo's return ticket to the States.

Journey Two: Alonzo returns to Argentina after one year and three months to be his host brother's best man; Sergio is marrying the young lady who assisted them in the travel agency. Alonzo's week-long stay and, in particular, Sergio's wedding day, are highlighted. This section ends at the Córdoba International Airport with Alonzo giving his good-byes to his host parents.

Journey Three: The final portion focuses on specific events from 1994 2009. It begins in July 1994 with the death of Alonzo's mother, followed eight months later by the death of a sister from cancer. Subsequent chapters highlight his relocation from Lafayette, Indiana, to Ann Arbor, Michigan (with a month-long stay in Toledo, Ohio, during the OJ Simpson trial proceedings) and finding employment at the University of Michigan; traveling to Argentina in 1997, and again in 1999 for the last time; and finally, corresponding with Sergio in December 2009 from Santiago, Chile, before returning to the States after visiting a friend in Viña del Mar.