The story of the Mirabal sisters, Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa. The movie tells the story of three sisters who fought against the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo, who ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961. After their assassination in 1960, their struggle spread across the Dominican Republic.

Shortly after Trujillo said, “My only two problems are the damn church and the Mirabal sisters,” the Mirabal sisters were raped and brutally murdered by the soldiers of the dictatorship on November 25, 1960. While their assassination was announced as “an automobile accident”, the bodies of three sisters were found near the bottom of a cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic.

In the Time of the Butterflies is a 2001 feature film, directed by Mariano Barroso and based on Julia Álvarez's book of the same name.