Loving Che centers on the experience of displaced Cuban-Americans and their search to learn about their past and shape an identity.
After years of silence and numerous unanswered questions, the protagonist confronts her grandfather about her heritage, particularly pressing him for details about her mother.
Unable to return to his homeland because of the political unrest between America and Cuba, the grandfather revealed he tried to contact his daughter, but all his attempts failed.
Unable to locate her mother, the protagonist returns to Miami, starts a career as a travel writer and tries to forget her past.
The package, filled with photographs and letters, is from a woman named Teresa de la Landre, who claims to be her mother.
Somewhat skeptical of the letters at first, the protagonist reads about Teresa's life, her career as a painter, and her marriage to Calixto de la Landre.
Realizing that being an illegitimate daughter of such an idealized person could have wide-ranging implications for the protagonist prompts her to uncover more details about her past.
The protagonist contacts Dr. Caraballo, a professor of history, and Jacinto Alcazar, a photographer who knew Fidel Castro and Che Guevara briefly.
Seeing a picture of Guevara in a Manhattan store, the protagonist reflects on what might have been: “a beautiful stranger, who in a different dream, might have been the father of my heart” (226).
Menéndez purposely recreates this ambiguity in order to highlight the circumstances many exiled Cuban-Americans face as they try to uncover details of their past.