Latin Americans meet Americans. Americans meet Latin Americans. They get together. They get apart. They fall in love. They hate each other. It's not always about language or culture or race, but most relationships are doomed from start because of language, culture, or race. In the eighteen short stories of The Map of Solitude, the company of someone different is always a challenge. Also the occasion to explore what divides people in the Americas and, ultimately, what divides humans no matter where they come from.