An unnamed, gay Afro-Latinx boy announces that his father has been maintaining a second family for a while—"keeping another woman" in Washington Heights. The boy lives at home with his mother (Ma) and his older siblings, Javi and Jan. The boy debates with Javi about who the other woman might be. Javi thinks she must be a model or actress. However, the boy believes she could be a regular woman. At first, Ma holds herself together, maintaining her restaurant like usual. She is attractive; she earns many tips by flirting with her patrons. But one day, she snaps, calling her husband a bastard and wetback. Javi asks why Ma doesn't just leave him. Ma hits Javi. On the weekends, Ma and the boy travel to the market; as a Black pair in a Latinx neighborhood, they stick out, but Ma makes herself comfortable, even dancing with one of the children there. She makes the boy promise not to tell anyone about the dance. The boy's father packs to leave, and takes a special family photo of the boy and Javi. Meanwhile, Javi begins bringing girls home to spend the night. For one month, the father returns; all is temporarily well, but eventually, the father leaves again. Sometime during this period, the father takes the boy with him to see his second family. To the boy's surprise, the second wife is revealed to be a regular woman; "plain, but comfortable". In her living room, the boy finds the missing photo of him and Javi, and he pockets it. In the middle of the silent car ride back, the boy's father tells him, "it doesn't matter. Estará bien. _it will be okay." That night, the boy lies to Javi, telling him the second woman was a spectacular beauty, a "real _belleza."