In the span of a year, Dolores Moore has become a thirty-five-year-old orphan. After the funeral of her aunt and adoptive mother Jane--the last of her family--Dorrie has never felt more alone. That is, except for a Greek chorus of deceased relatives whose voices follow her around giving unsolicited advice and opinions. And they won't stop talking about her deathbed promise to Jane about returning to her birthplace in Colombia.

But with a recent break-up, losing her job, and facing a daunting inheritance of an old Victorian house and two orange tabbies, there's no way she can leave the country. However when an old flame offers to housesit, the chorus agrees that there's no room for excuses. Armed with only a scrap of a hand drawn map, Dorrie sets off to find out where--and who--she came from.