The leader of this war is Federico de la Fe, a Mexican man who is abandoned by his wife Merced due to his chronic bed-wetting.
After leaving Mexico for the United States, Federico de la Fe and his daughter Little Merced settle in the small, flower-growing town of El Monte.
There, Federico de la Fe enlists the help of the town and a local gang of flower-pickers, who call themselves the El Monte Flores, in order to combat the influence of Saturn.
Having lost his wife due to his bedwetting, Federico de la Fe takes his young daughter Little Merced from their Mexican town near the Las Tortugas river and moves from Mexico to El Monte, California, where he works with the EMF (then a gang) picking carnations for a living.
While moving through Mexico to the USA, Federico de la Fe begins to feel that he is being watched by Saturn, and he discovers that only lead can shield him from the omnipresent view of the planet.
He convinces the EMF to help him wage this war, which they do first by setting fires around town so that Saturn cannot see through, and second by having lead walls and ceilings put into all their houses.
Non-EMF characters who get sections to themselves include Rita Hayworth (known as "Margarita"); Merced de Papel, who receives her name from Little Merced; Ignacio, the mechanic who provides the lead shields; Apolonio, a curandero who helps Froggy overcome his sadness at losing Sandra; Santos, a saint who has been hiding from the church by living as a popular luchador; and Baby Nostradamus, an infant whose mother tells fortunes.
Much of this section looks at the Saturn/Plascencia's personal life, including his attempts to communicate with Liz and his later relationship with Cameroon, a woman who gives herself bee-stings (much like Federico de la Fe burns himself).
The unusual multi-column structure of the page was inspired by similar departures from standard formatting made by authors like Cris Mazza, John Edgar Wideman and Denise Chávez.
"[12] Publishers Weekly deemed the book "virtuosic" and described it as "a mischievous mix of García Márquez magical realism and Tristram Shandy typographical tricks".