The Time of the Butterflies

The action of the novel takes place in the Dominican Republic, both in 1994 – "in our days" – and during the Trujillo regime. In 1994, Dede Mirabal lives in the house where her three sisters – Minerva, Patria, and Maria Teresa – and her family once lived. Her deceased sisters are known as "the butterflies"; they are martyrs and national heroes.

In 1994, Dede tells an interviewer about the life and death of her sisters. Her story is interspersed with her own memories of the past. The point of view in the narrative shifts between the four sisters from 1943 until the death of the butterflies in 1960. It encompasses Dede's recollections, Minerva's perspective, Patria's viewpoint, and entries from Maria Teresa's (Mate) diary.

Minerva persuades their father to allow the girls to attend a convent school, where she meets Sinita, a girl whose entire family was killed by Trujillo. This is Minerva's first encounter with the devastating politics of the regime. The next encounter with the dictator occurs when she witnesses Trujillo seducing and then abandoning her school friend Lina Lovaton.

Patria is the most religious of the sisters. As most people assume, she wants to become a nun. However, soon Patria discovers her sexuality and gives up her dream of becoming a nun. Instead, at sixteen, she marries a farmer named Pedrito, and they have a son, Nelson, and a daughter, Noris.