Marisol spends the trip back from Santa Clara digesting the news: The implications are that she is Pablo’s granddaughter and that the man she called her grandfather is no relation to her. Furthermore, Emilio and her Ferrera grandfather must have known Elisa was pregnant because of the birthdate of her child. While Elisa always implied that the rushed wedding was because of the uncertainty of the times, the truth is that she married hastily because of the baby. Marisol’s discovery of her true identity and the end of the search for Pablo leaves her feeling deflated, but Luis tells her she should be proud to be the granddaughter of a man like Pablo.

Back at the house, Ana explains to Marisol that she is selling a product to the tourists—that “romantic Cuban experience” (253) of Old Havana before the revolution. Marisol realizes that she, too, was in search of that old Cuba, but the truth is that the embargo has devastated the country. Marisol’s understanding of this devastation was merely academic before. Looking at how the Rodriguez family struggles, she recognizes the reality of modern life for most Cubans. Luis comes down and shares a caress with Marisol. He asks her to join him after dinner, and Luis’s ex-wife walks in on the conversation.

Two days after Elisa learns of Pablo’s death, Castro’s government arrests Emilio and detains him in La Cabaña, overseen by Guevara, where he may well be held indefinitely or even killed. Seeing the danger her father and family are in, Elisa realizes that the family should leave Cuba. Mrs. Perez is indecisive, however, while Beatriz insists that they must wait. No one has heard a thing from Alejandro.

Unable to bear the waiting, Beatriz and Elisa go to La Cabaña a week later. Beatriz insists on making Elisa wait outside: There is someone inside whom Beatriz believes might help them. Elisa waits, and her nausea and fear for her own safety make the baby seem real for the first time. When Beatriz comes out, her lipstick is smeared, with the implication that she was forced to trade kisses or sex for the chance to see her father. Emilio is in a crowded cell. Che tries and executes traitors to the revolution three times a day, and the two young women walk away with the sound of the firing squad behind them.

The death back in La Cabaña finally makes Elisa realize that all the time that she and the other members of the elites tolerated Batista’s tyranny must now be paid for. Their privilege had allowed them to ignore the oppression of ordinary Cubans, which in turn created the conditions for the revolution to succeed.

Luis takes Marisol out to the Malecón and then for a walk down to Vedado so she can experience Havana nightlife as most Cubans do. They have only three days more before Marisol has to head back to the United States. Marisol realizes that she can never really call Cuba home; this modern Cuba is not any place she can claim as her own. Marisol is talking about this feeling and where to spread Elisa’s ashes when two men—clearly government agents—take Luis into custody and place him in a car. Moments later, a different man snatches Marisol off the street and takes her away.

Back in 1959, the regime releases Emilio days later. The world outside has seemingly gone crazy. Night after night, the family watches show trials of traitors to the revolution, followed by public executions. Mass audiences watch these spectacles in person, reminding Elisa of the stories of decadent Rome. Anyone is subject to accusation, so these are precarious times. Despite the horror and open violence of these trials, the family watches the trials, even Maria, the baby of the family, until Beatriz puts a stop to it. She asserts herself because the Perez parents have become paralyzed with fear. Alejandro or Emilio may well be on trial next, for all they know.

Exhausted and terrified by dreams of Castro, the bloody executions, and visions of Pablo’s death, Elisa is only soothed by Magda’s care. Magda bathes her in holy water and herbs one night. When Elisa wakes the morning, things feel clearer to her. She despises Castro and is amazed that the common Cuban people cannot see that these trials and seizure of the property of the rich and former Batista supporters cannot continue forever. The country is doomed. That day, the Perez family experiences another terrible blow: Unknown people, likely from the regime, dump Alejandro’s bloodied corpse at the gate of the Perez home. Beatriz and Elisa shield Maria and their parents from this sight, and they both swear to make the revolutionaries pay for their crimes.

Back in the present, Marisol is in the house of none other than Pablo. He is alive, it turns out, and had one of his men kidnap Elisa after a friend in the government tells him that Luis is likely to be taken in for questioning. Pablo has no idea where Luis is, but he promises to work on helping in any way he can. When Marisol asks how Elisa came to think he was dead, he tells her the whole story. Pablo was gravely wounded during the Battle of Santa Clara, so much so that it looked like he would die. When the rebels marched to Havana, Guillermo assumed that Pablo was dead and fulfilled his promise to tell Elisa if anything ever happened to Pablo. When Pablo finally arrived at Havana, Emilio was already in prison. Using the political pull he had as a compatriot of Fidel and Che, Pablo arranged for the release of Emilio. He gave Emilio a letter to pass on to Elisa.

Shortly after, the regime killed Alejandro, so Emilio never gave the letter to his daughter. When Pablo attempted to reach Elisa later that spring in Miramar, the family had already left for the United States. Pablo was with Fidel when Fidel went to address the UN in 1960, so he took the opportunity to reach out to Emilio. He discovered that Elisa was married, had a child, and was happy. He gave up on his dream of being with her. He married and settled into a life of attempting to bring Cuba closer to the democratic constitution of 1940, when it still seemed like freedom was possible. Marisol tries to give Elisa’s engagement ring—a Garcia family heirloom—back to Pablo, but Pablo tells her to keep it. Marisol looks so much like Pablo’s mother that he knows she must be his granddaughter, and Marisol tells him that the baby with which Elisa was pregnant was a boy, her father. Pablo leaves after promising to do everything he can to save Luis if possible.