If you see yourself as a poet and want to engage with the world to provide material for your work, what do you do? For Kate Lawrence in 1968, the answer turns out to be, go to Brazil. Her Brazilian former lover has filled her head with a vision of a country that respects its poets and is poised between Third World poverty and modern technology. Shortly after her arrival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's military dictatorship is caught off guard as leftists take to the streets to oppose the generals' rule. During this harrowing period, as Kate moves through street riots and among hippies, musicians,...

Alexandre Barbosa is the scion of a wealthy Brazilian family that lives grandly and gambles for high stakes. His father has just lost the family's vast coffee plantation in a poker game. But the loss of his patrimony isn't Alexandre's most serious problem. He feels honor-bound, even at the risk of his life, to take an active part in opposing the military dictatorship that has ruled Brazil for five years. His patriotism comes into conflict with everything he has planned for his future. In 1969, while still a university student in Rio de Janeiro studying to become an architect, he joins the...