Hijuelos, Oscar

The fifteen children of Irishman Nelson O'Brien and his aristocratic wife, Mariela Montez, pursue lives of love, happiness, and adventure far beyond the small Pennsylvania town of their birth.

Lydia leaves Cuba for New York in the hopes of finding a husband who can give her the elegant life she has always dreamed of, and when she meets Raul, she thinks those dreams are finally coming true, but then Raul falls ill and Lydia is forced to give up her dreams and learn a lesson in humility.

Israel Levis, a Cuban composer, returns to Habana still recovering physically and emotionally from his experiences in Paris during the Nazi occupation, where he brings to life his love for Rita Valldares in his most famous rumba song "Rosas Puras.".

Hector Santinio, the son of Cuban immigrants, grows up in New York City in the 1950s, struggling to understand his cultural identity and to come to terms with his high-living father.

Cesar and Nestor, Cuban musicians, make their way from Havana to the New York stage in 1949 where they share triumphs and tragedies.

In the 1960s, Rico Fuentes, a pale-skinned Cuban American teenager, abandons drug-infested New York City for the picket fence and apple pie world of Wisconsin, only to discover that he still feels like an outsider and that violent and judgmental people can be found even in the wholesome Midwest.