Nelida gives birth to a baby and does not love him; instead, she imagines throwing him against the floor. English is not her first language, but when her husband comes in, he asks her to speak it. She is resistant towards loving and nurturing the baby because she has lost five babies before and expects this one to die as well. They live in Puerto Rico but later move to America. The baby, Esteban, reaches two years old but Nelida still expects him to die. She begins to feel a small amount of hope as he hits milestones that her other babies did not. Years later, Esteban is at his girlfriend's house instead of working at his father's store. He insists on being called Steve because Esteban was the name of all of the babies before him. His girlfriend, Renay, does not want to have sex because they are out of condoms, but he convinces her to sleep with him by claiming that he takes care of his responsibilities. Renay becomes pregnant and Esteban stays to raise his son in Nelida's house while Renay finishes high school. Nelida catches Esteban asking his son (also named Esteban) who he is, claiming that he sees many other people in the boy's face. However, he doesn't see any of himself. Esteban asks his mother who she sees when she looks at him. Renay refuses to let Esteban take the baby to Puerto Rico, which is his homeland, and she becomes upset when he tries to teach the baby Spanish because she is scared of not being able to understand her own child. Esteban tells his parents that he wants to join the army, which surprises them, because they have enough money to send him to business school. Esteban lashes out and his father slaps him; for the first time, he tells his parents that he believes that they wish he didn't make it, just like all the other babies. He also thinks that they would have preferred it if one of the other babies had lived. Nelida grieves the fact that they abandoned Puerto Rico, as she has never felt fully at home in the United States. Her husband insisted that this was the right decision, even though she always doubted it. She tries to convince her husband to have Esteban stay with them instead of leaving for the military. She tells him that if Esteban leaves the family forever, she is leaving too. The parents visit Esteban and encourage him to come back once his military service is over. He promises that he will return and asks him to raise his son for a few years while he is away.