The narrative of Men of Maize unfolds on two levels, sometimes simultaneously: the magical realm of Mayan myth and the factual, everyday reality of the ladinos. “Men crisscrossed with cartridge belts” and wielding machetes share the same space with firefly wizards who sow “sparkling lights in the black air of the night” and who dwell “in tents of virgin doeskin” (Men of Maize, p. 19). The narrative often shifts abruptly from one perspective to the other, offering multiple interpretations of passing events, leaving the reader to decide which world—that of the Indian or the ladino—makes more sense. The plot is divided into six parts—“Gaspar Ilóm,” “Machofón,” “The Deer of the Seven-Fires,” “Colonel Chalo Godoy,” “María Tecún,” and “Coyote-Postman”—covering an indefinite span of years. The second, third, and fourth sections all take place seven years after the events of the first part, addressing the consequences of an Indian massacre brought about by treachery. Still more time has passed in the last two sections, both of which deal with the disappearance of a beloved wife and the Indians’ loss of cultural identity.