With one suitcase and a map drawn on a bar napkin as her only guide, sixteen-year old Loren travels to Moron del la Frontera in Andalusia to learn to play flamenco guitar from the Gypsies. Here she joins an extended family of flamenco artists and foreign aficionados whose adventures over a twenty-year period are interwoven with Loren's own odyssey. Her life with the Gypsies is haunted by the mysterious circumstances of her brother Aaron's death. Although they shared the same New York Jewish upbringing, he went to California during the expansive optimism of the sixties, while she went back in time to explore a rich music and culture. Their relationship is a dark love story that casts disquieting shadows over their years apart.

As Loren struggles to master an instrument traditionally off-limits to women, she finds her own path, inspired by the earthy wisdom of her Gypsy companions.

Dorien Ross lives in New York City. She studied flamenco guitar with Andalusian Gypsies. Her work has appeared in Best American Essays and in Tikkun.