Death in Spring tells the story of the bizarre and destructive customs of a nameless town through the eyes of a fourteen-year-old boy. The boy struggles to come to terms with the rhyme and reason of the town's ritual violence, and with his wild teenaged stepmother, who becomes his playmate. By developing the relationships between the boy and the townspeople, and examining the town's rituals, Merce Rodoreda portrays a fully-articulated, though quite disturbing, society.