The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Alvarez, Julia. Afterlife. Afterlife. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2020.

The novel follows Antonia Vega, a woman living in Vermont. Her family is originally from the Dominican Republic, but she has lived in the United States for almost her entire life. She is a retired literature professor. Her husband, Sam, died nine months ago due to an aortic aneurysm. Her elderly parents died within the last couple years. She has three sisters—Izzy, Mona, and Tilly—but her relationship with them is slightly distant, as there is often some dysfunction between them.

Antonia lives near a farm. The owner, Roger, is in favor of harsh immigration laws, and yet he employs undocumented immigrants on his farm in order to save money by paying them below minimum wage. One of the employees is Mario, a young undocumented immigrant from Mexico. One day, Mario visits Antonia and asks her for help. His fiancée, Estela, has entered the United States with the help of a guide called a ‘coyote.’ However, Estela is now stranded in Colorado. Somewhat reluctantly, Antonia agrees to pay for Estela’s bus ticket to Vermont. Soon after, Estela learns that her eldest sister, Izzy has gone missing. Izzy’s sisters grow very worried, as Izzy has a history of unstable and impulsive behavior.

Izzy has lived in Boston for years. She recently expressed interest in buying a property in western Massachusetts so that she could open a cultural center for immigrants. However, after Izzy visited the property, she disappeared. The sisters are now unable to reach her via phone. Estela soon arrives in Vermont. When Mario sees that Estela has become pregnant by another man, he breaks up with her. Antonia reluctantly agrees to help Estela for the time being and hide her from immigration police. Meanwhile, she helps her sisters organize a search for Izzy.

Izzy eventually contacts her sisters via phone. She explains the series of quick decisions she made that led her to embark upon a road trip without contacting her sisters. Antonia, Mona, and Tilly have long suspected that Izzy might have bipolar disorder, and they recognize Izzy’s recent behavior as a manic episode. Antonia thinks that the relatively recent deaths of their parents may have contributed to Izzy’s manic episode. With the help of the police, the sisters secure Izzy’s return to Boston and persuade her to undergo psychiatric testing. Tragically, Izzy kills herself before she can be admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Antonia then returns to her home in Vermont. Estela gives birth and names the child Marianela. Estela and Mario eventually reconcile. They decide to return to Mexico with Marianela. Estela and Mario plan to marry each other in Mexico and then pursue careers. As Antonia dives them and Marianela to the airport, they are stopped by a state police officer. Fortunately, the local sheriff—Sheriff Boyer—arrives and intervenes. Boyer is secretly sympathetic to undocumented immigrants, and he pursues various covert means of protecting immigrants from unjust federal immigration laws. Boyer persuades the state officer to let Antonia and her passengers go.