Set in an imagined Latin American country the novel's political themes parody the worst excesses of the Pinochet government of Chile, the collapse of democratic social order in Uruguay in the 1970s and other dirty wars of the 1960s to 1980s in Southern and Central America.

The main action of the story takes place in the small town of Cochadebajo de los Gatos, where the characters of the previous books have settled.

Other parts of the novel take place in the capital city of the fictional nation, in the clubs of the corrupt military commanders, and the palace of the distracted, amoral president.

Cardinal Guzman's clergy and the corrupt military of the country set out to destroy the heresy of the countryside, and, more specifically, Cochadebajo de los Gatos, home of Dionisio and many of the other characters.

De Bernières pays obvious homage to Latin American magic realism, in particular the comic awareness of life's transcendence which characterises the work of Gabriel García Márquez.