Oficio de tinieblas draws on two centuries of struggle among the Maya Indians, the white landowners, and the conflicted mestiza class in the Chiapas region of Southern Mexico. The novel transposes historical events to the Chiapas of Castellanos's own childhood in the 1930s, and explores, too, the struggle of Mexico's women for independence from the British oppression of their husbands and lovers. Her plot is multi-layered, weaving the stories of wealthy Leonardo; his wife, Isabel; and Catalina, a Mayan woman who raises the bastard child of Leonardo's rape of a Mayan girl.

Blending a wealth of historical information and local detail with a profound understanding of the complex relationship between victim and tormentor, Castellanos starkly captures the ambiguities that underlie all struggles for power.