Spanning 500 years of Brazilian history, Her Mother's Mother's Mother and Her Daughters chronicles a family of women, beginning in 1500 with the birth of Inaia, daughter of a Tupiniquim warrior, and ending in 2001 with Inaia's distant descendent, Maria Flor. As each new daughter takes the place of her mother, and the mothers before her, Maria Jose Silveira's captivating, cinematic prose takes us through the formation of the country itself, as well as through the roles, customs, challenges, and intrigues of the women within it.