One night, Nenquimo’s father, Tiri, explains the Waorani belief that their ancestors become jaguars after death. When Nenquimo asks about the missionaries’ God, Tiri dismisses it as useless in the forest. He recounts his childhood memories of the polio epidemic that devastated the Waorani.

Though the family stops attending church, Nenquimo is sent to Sunday school, where Rachel gives her the Christian name Inés. Rachel shows the children a picture of a dark-skinned, hairy devil who resembles Nenquimo’s grandfather, Donasco, a Záparo shaman whose mother was Kichwa. Shortly after, Donasco visits and performs a ritual with a toucan’s tongue and honey to give Nenquimo a “sweet tongue” for making good chicha, a traditional fermented manioc drink. Victor, now called by his new name, Mengatowe, is no longer having seizures. 

Dayuma, a Waorani woman who assists Rachel, visits their oko (longhouse) to announce the impending arrival of men from an oil company. When the white men arrive in a helicopter, Nenquimo and Mengatowe eavesdrop on Rachel’s meeting with them. They talk about sending the male Waorani away to work for the oil company. 

Afterward, Nenquimo’s mother reveals how Tiri worked away for Texaco for the entire duration of her pregnancy. Tiri explains that Rachel ordered him to intervene with uncontacted family members of the Tagëiri clan who had killed oil company workers. He left in a helicopter with the white men and saw how they were devastating the landscape through deforestation. While pretending to cooperate with the cowori, Tiri secretly left machetes and axes in the forest to help his Tagëiri relatives.

Rachel Saint holds a village meeting to endorse a Christian-led oil company, Maxus. She assures them that the company wants to help the Waorani people and warns against “communists” who oppose it. Nenquimo later sees Amo and Moi, young men rumored to be communists, kindly helping her uncle, Nënëcawa. Moi expresses fear that the oil company will contaminate the river and destroy their way of life. Soon after, Nenquimo’s father, Tiri, leaves to work for the company.

At school, Nenquimo receives a letter from an American pen pal and becomes fascinated by the red lipstick the girl is wearing in her photograph. She and her friend Mimaa sneak off to the compound. There, they witness the sorcerer, Äwä, in a trance, communing with jaguar spirits to locate game and strategize against the oil company. The girls steal Mimaa’s sister’s lipstick, which was a gift from Dayuma. They use the lipstick to paint stripes across their faces.

As punishment for stealing the lipstick, Nenquimo’s mother, Manuela, pours chili-pepper water into her daughter’s eyes, blinding her for three days. When Tiri returns, he carries a baby parrot whose nest was destroyed by the oil company’s chainsaws. He tells the family he has found a place downriver where they can build a new village, away from the changes in Toñampare.

A plane arrives in Toñampare carrying the coffin of Amo, the young “communist” Nenquimo had befriended. He was shot and killed by cowori after going to spear-kill cattle grazing on Waorani lands. His father, Moipa, mourns that his son died in a conflict fueled by money and the oil company.

Soon after, Rachel Saint organizes a large celebration to formalize an agreement with the Maxus oil company. Waorani men perform traditional dances for visiting dignitaries, including the daughter of Ecuador’s president. Nenquimo’s father is deeply troubled by the deal, fearing for the uncontacted Waorani clans living in the territory now open to drilling. He also fears that the oil company will leave no animals to hunt in the forest surrounding Toñampare, reinforcing his decision to leave and start a new village. Nenquimo is devastated when rats kill her pet baby birds in the night. Tiri states that rats only became a problem when white people came to the area. Rodents are attracted to cowori food staples like rice and sugar. 

One day, the village elders begin a spontaneous traditional celebration, which Rachel furiously shuts down, calling their naked dancing “the devil’s fire” (61). Shortly after this confrontation, she leaves the village. Without Rachel’s presence, the Waorani return to their customs, hunting on a Sunday without fearing admonition.

Months later, Rachel dies from an unspecified illness, and a plane returns with her body. At her funeral, her assistant, Dayuma, promises Rachel’s belongings to those who mourn the loudest, prompting performative wailing. Nenquimo feels only relief. Among Rachel’s possessions, the villagers discover a box full of money, which Moipa states was a payment from the oil company to Rachel for access to their lands. They agree it is “worthless” and burn it.

Following Rachel Saint’s death, Tiri predicts that the Waorani pastors will invite her nephew, Steve Saint, to live with them. The village of Toñampare becomes increasingly disorderly, solidifying the family’s decision to leave. Tiri returns from trading with the cowori for supplies and a radio, which he obtained by giving away their monkey, Amonka. The family then travels by canoe to a new site downriver, which they name Nemonpare.

Nenquimo’s family are greeted by Steve Saint, who is overseeing the clearing of a new landing strip. Steve hands Tiri a rifle and pats him on the back. While the family initially sleeps under a plastic tarp, Tiri and another pastor, Tementa, begin constructing a large, two-story wooden house for Steve and his family. Steve provides tools and goods from “Civilization,” and the family’s mornings are soon filled with the sound of the radio rather than the traditional sharing of dreams.

When the house and landing strip are nearly finished, Steve’s wife, Ginny; their three sons; and their daughter, Stephanie, arrive. Nenquimo, who has seen pictures of the blonde, smiling family, is eager to meet them.

Nenquimo is immediately captivated by Stephanie Saint and seeks her friendship. The new village of Nemonpare grows as more families arrive, and Steve Saint begins making plans to bring Christian tourists to the community. Nenquimo’s family spends their evenings at the Saints’ generator-powered house, watching television and getting a glimpse of the outside world.

The exposure to Western life makes Nenquimo self-conscious about her appearance, and she begins to wish for Stephanie’s white skin and blue eyes. Her mother, Manuela, senses her insecurity and lovingly washes her hair with traditional forest plants. At a church service, Steve Saint speaks of the Waorani warrior Mincaye who killed his own wife’s father, and also killed Steve’s missionary father. Steve claims that Mincaye has had the “black stains” on his soul “whitened” through his belief in Wengongi (the Waorani name for the Christian God). Nenquimo worries that her own soul might be stained.

When the first group of tourists arrives, Nenquimo and Victor sneak up to their camp and join a traditional dance. The next day, she watches the tourists get baptized in the river. Nenquimo reasons that if she is baptized, Stephanie will give her clothes and teach her keyboard. The pastors immerse her in the water, praying for her soul to be cleansed. However, when the ritual is over, Nenquimo feels nothing has changed and is confused by the emotional tears of Stephanie and the other white people.