The Skin of the Sky is the story of the life of Lorenzo de Tena, a brilliant and troubled astronomer. Born in the 1930s, the illegitimate son of a businessman and a peasant woman, Lorenzo lives happily with his mother, brothers, and sisters on a small plot of land outside Mexico City. But when Lorenzo's mother dies, the children's idyllic existence is shattered, and their father brings them to live with him in the capital. Thrust into a privileged world, they struggle to adjust, and an angry Lorenzo turns to the study of the stars to find solace.