The novel can be thought of a sequel to Allende's Daughter of Fortune as it follows Eliza Sommers' granddaughter - Aurora del Valle.

Portrait in Sepia is the sequel to Daughter of Fortune and follows the story of Aurora del Valle, the granddaughter of Eliza Sommers (Hija de la fortuna).

The daughter of Lynn Sommers (the daughter of Eliza and Tao Chi'en) and Matías Rodríguez de Santa Cruz (son of Paulina del Valle and Feliciano Rodríguez de Santa Cruz) has no memory of the first five years of her life.

She has recurring nightmares of men in black pyjamas looming around her and losing the grip on the hand of someone beloved.

The family moves from San Francisco to Chile and Frederick Williams becomes Paulina's husband, so that he will be accepted in Chilean society.

Allende also describes a civil war which affects them directly, as well as the way in which Paulina del Valle endlessly creates new businesses such as growing French wine and selling cheese, in Chile.

She is more than 70 years old, but does not show signs of being tired, ill or soft; she imposes her will on her body and thus continues to rule the family as a matriarch.