The story of Juan, a slave, willed to the great Spanish painter Velazquez, and how their relationship changed from master/slave to that of equal/friend.
Juan de Pareja, the slave who prepares the paints and canvases of the artist Velázquez, describes his work with his master and the climate of Spanish court life.
His father's loyalty to the Mexican president deposed by Porfirio Diaz in 1876 forces a boy known as El Güero and his family into exile to the dangerous Baja California territory.