We are in twenty-first century Nicaragua. The country is experiencing civil unrest, which is brutally suppressed by a totalitarian government, whose executive hand is the head of the secret service, nicknamed Tongolele. It is with this feared manipulator, who pulls many of the regime's political strings, that Inspector Dolores Morales encounters.

The masterful prose of the Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez gradually uncovers the dark and bizarre backstage of power, full of secrecy, betrayal and dirty intrigues, which Inspector Morales must face with the support of his loyal companions. At the same time, in a turbulent and unpredictable country, every step can be wrong, and whoever stands up to power is at risk of a definitive fall into the abyss.