That summer is a season of knowledge for Antonio. He becomes more attached to Ultima than to his mother, and, from her, he learns the stories, legends, and history of his people. She cautions him never to touch the three dolls that she fashioned, and, from around her neck, she gives him her folk scapular, a thin pouch of cloth filled with sweet-smelling herbs, for his protection until he makes his first holy communion. Many afternoons are spent waiting for the golden carp to return, and during those months, Antonio listens to migrant workers talk of the social changes—the railroads and the barbed wire—that have ended the old way of life for his people.
One night, one of Ultima's friends, the town drunk Narciso, comes to warn her: One of Tenorio's evil daughters has died, and Tenorio blames Ultima. Outside, a shot is fired, men's voices are heard, and Tenorio demands that Ultima be given to them. Ultima comes to the door, and as Tenorio moves forward, her owl swoops down and gouges out one of his eyes.
Next morning, the family travels to El Puerto to help with the harvest; Gabriel accompanies them. They pass Rosie's whorehouse, and Antonio ponders the sins that will soon cause the town to sink into a lake of water. Like God, the golden carp punishes sinners; in contrast, the Virgin forgives sinners. Antonio thinks that the best god would be a woman.
One evening, after a day of harvesting, the adults talk about Tenorio's two remaining daughters building a coffin of cottonwood branches; witches, they say, cannot be buried in coffins made of pine, piñon, or cedar. They think that the sisters will probably perform a Black Mass, a ritual which Antonio dreams about. In his dream, he looks into a coffin and sees Ultima; simultaneously, he feels himself being picked up and comforted.
Next day, Antonio joins Ultima and other people on the street to watch the Trementinas as they approach—Tenorio on horseback, a black patch over an eye socket, and his two black-clad daughters in a horse-drawn wagon that carries a casket. At the church, the priest bars entry, and Tenorio turns his horse around, glances at Ultima, and vows revenge.
The harvest completed, Antonio returns to school, where he tells Samuel that he has seen the golden carp. Prophetically, Samuel warns him that schoolboys may soon taunt him into fighting about Ultima and her alleged witchcraft. Later, Tenorio and Narciso fight about Ultima in the town saloon, and Samuel tells Antonio that the conflict over whether or not Ultima is a witch will end only when blood is spilled.
The school Christmas pageant is chaotic, and, relieved that it is over, Antonio creeps slowly home through a fierce blizzard. In front of the saloon, he sees Tenorio and Narciso fighting in the thick, blinding snow and cursing one another. Eventually Tenorio leaves, threatening to kill Narciso and Ultima. Narciso braves the blizzard winds until he reaches Rosie's, where he calls Andrew to the door and warns him of Tenoroo's threat to Ultima. Andrew, his arm around one of Rosie's girls, isn't unduly worried and goes back inside. Antonio follows Narciso silently as he leans forward into the icy wind on his way to warn Ultima. When they are on the goat path leading up to the family home, a shot rings out, men struggle, another shot is fired, and Tenorio flees. Antonio kneels beside the dying Narciso, who asks Antonio to hear his confession; afterward, Antonio makes the sign of the cross over him, then sobs uncontrollably.
Bursting into his mother's kitchen, he blurts out all that has happened, and that night, he has a nightmare: The girl at Rosie's pulls Andrew into the fires of hell. Antonio cries out to God, asking for Andrew's forgiveness. A voice answers that Andrew is condemned to hell for eternity. If Andrew is forgiven, then Tenorio must be forgiven. The Virgin appears and says that she forgives all. God intervenes and says that vengeance belongs to Him—and not even the golden carp has His powers. As the flames of hell part, the blood of Narciso flows into a river, to be mixed with the blood of Lupito. A mob gathers, demanding Ultima's blood. Antonio sees his three brothers, whipped by three women, confessing to their sinful natures and asking for Antonio's blessing. The three Trementina sisters begin dancing around him, taking cuttings of his hair, which they mix with the blood of foul things. His body begins to wither and he dies without ever having taken holy communion. He is doomed to go to Purgatory. Meanwhile, the angry mob murders his father, mother, and sisters. They behead Ultima, drive a stake through her heart, and burn her body. Then they go to the river, catch the carp that swim there, cook them, and eat them. The earth parts and the entire town sinks into the raging waters of the black void. The sun turns red. Farmers from El Puerto bury the ashes of Antonio's family, night falls, and the golden carp appears. It opens its mouth, swallows everything, and swims upward toward the stars. Its golden body becomes a new sun that shines upon a new earth.
