Mario, an aspiring writer, works at a radio station, Panamericana, writing news bulletins alongside the disaster-obsessed Pascual.

The novel chronicles the scriptwriter's rise in popularity, and subsequent descent into madness, in tandem with the protagonist's affair.

It alternates between Mario's account of his life and episodes of Camacho's serials, which become increasingly unhinged as the novel progresses.

Urquidi later wrote a memoir, Lo que Varguitas no dijo (What little Vargas didn't say), in which she provided her own version of their relationship.

Vargas Llosa's novel was later adapted as a Hollywood feature film, Tune in Tomorrow, in which the setting was moved from Lima to New Orleans.