Given two subsets X and Y of R each with at least two points, we describe the surjective linear isometries between the spaces of functions of bounded variation BV(X) and BV{Y): namely, if T : BV(X) -)• BV(Y) is such an isometry, then there exist a e C, |a| = 1, and a monotonic bijective map h : Y -> X such that {Tf)(y) = af{h(y)) for every / g BV(X) and every y EY.Let X be an arbitrary subset of the real line with at least two points. Given a complex valued function / on X we denote by V(f\ X) the variation of / on X, that is, the least upper bound of the setIf V(f;X) < +oo, then / is said to be a function of bounded variation. We denote by BV(X) the set of all functions of bounded variation on X. It is straightforward to see that BV(X) becomes a Banach space if we endow it with the norm ||/|| := \\f\\gg + V(f; X), f 6 BV(X), where \\-\\gg stands for the sup norm.In this paper we give a complete description of the surjective linear isometries between spaces of functions of bounded variation. The techniques used to do this are not based on extreme points or related techniques used to prove similar results in the study of isometries between some other spaces of functions (see for instance [3] or [1]). We use only straightforward concepts, always taking into account that the functions we deal with are not continuous in general. Related results are given for instance in [2,4] and [5], where the authors study the isometries between spaces of absolutely continuous functions, endowed with a similar norm. However, in these papers the fact that the functions are absolutely continuous is fundamental to carrying out their proofs, and no similar approach can be taken in our context.In the sequel, given a subset A of C, we denote by cl A its closure in C. Also, for / € BV(X), we denote by C(f) the set of numbers a € C such that |a| = ||/|| and