The Rain God - Plot Overview

Plot Overview

In six chapters, the author draws a character study which reveals the saints and sinners of the family.

In the first chapter, Miguel Chico, son to Miguel Grande and Juanita is introduced. He is the only member of the Angel family to achieve a college education so far, and he lives away from the rest of the family in San Francisco. Because he has chosen to live so far away, he is viewed with suspicion by some members of the family.

Nina, Juanita’s sister, is presented in the following chapter. Her sexual and rebellious nature, which caused many fights and arguments with her father, has been passed on to her son Antony. Nina, not having learned from the mistakes she used to criticize her father of, does not peacefully settle the differences between herself and her son. After one of their fights, Antony dies, and it's unclear if the death was a suicide.

Another “sinner” is profiled in chapter three: Miguel Chico’s father; Miguel Grande, who is having an affair with Lola, who is his wife Juanita's best friend. He is torn between them and unable to choose.

Chapter four tells the story of Miguel Grande’s brother Felix, who is killed by a soldier toward whom he made sexual advances. In chapter five, Felix’s son, JoEl, has night terrors as a child; the chapter deals with his feelings about his father's death.

In the last chapter, the family matriarch, Mama Chona, Miguel Grande’s mother is portrayed as a beast-like figure. Having fled from the 1911 Mexican Revolution, Mama Chona tried to hold the Angel family together and keep its dignity all her life. However, she failed miserably.