Sisters Rosa and Blanca are so kind, thoughtful, and generous--and such good gardeners--that their Mamá who lives between the two winds up with a great deal of corn, tomatoes, and red hot chiles.
Although her mother and sisters make fun of her decision to marry a green bird, to Mirabel he is a prince and so when her family's jealousy endangers him, she sets out to save his life and their love.
In this variation of the Cinderella story, coming from the Hispanic tradition in New Mexico, Arciá and her wicked stepsisters have different encounters with a magical hawk and are left physically changed in ways that will affect their meeting with the prince.