Compelling and unforgettable, this remarkable, bittersweet story of a doomed love affair set in the colonial era "demonstrates that one of the masters of the form is still working at the height of his powers" (The New York Times). Amid the lush, coastal tropics of a South American seaport, an unruly, co pper-haired girl and a bookish priest are caught in a chaste, ill-fated love affair.