In the winter of 1947, Ursa Corregidora sings to a roomful of patrons at Happy’s Bar. Her husband, Mutt, arrives drunk and interrupts her show. Although he’s thrown out, he waits out back for her. She leaves the bar and a physical struggle ensues. Ursa ends up in the hospital, where she finds out she has lost the ability to have children as a result of her injuries. She refuses to see Mutt, but entertains another visitor named Tadpole, the owner of Happy’s. Tadpole aids Ursa by permanently banning Mutt from Happy’s Bar and by agreeing to help her recover. She stays with him when released from the hospital, and he makes her his top priority. 

Through Ursa’s conversations with Tadpole and a series of flashbacks, it’s revealed that Ursa descended from women who were forced into sexual slavery. Ursa tells Tadpole that her great-grandfather, Corregidora, was a “slave breeder and whoremonger” who fathered his own prostitution ring (8-9). Ursa’s Great Gram often told her stories about having to sleep with both Old Man Corregidora and his wife. 

While Ursa is recovering at Tadpole’s, Cat, the neighborhood hairdresser, visits Ursa.