The Popol Vuh, the foundational text of the K'iche' Maya of highland Guatemala, was written down in secret in the 16th century to hide it from Spanish conquerors. This episode uses it to build a chronological biography of the hero twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque, starting before their birth: their father and uncle, loud ballplayers, are summoned to the underworld of Xibalba, fail its tests, and are executed, with One Hunahpu's severed head hung in a calabash tree. When the head spits into the hand of the underworld daughter Blood Moon, she becomes pregnant and must fake her own death with a heart of red tree sap to escape to the surface.

The twins are then followed through their early years being bullied by their half-brothers, whom they turn into monkeys, their campaigns against the vain bird god Seven Macaw and the earthquake giant Cabracan,  ...