A successful businessman, Enrique is blackmailed by the notorious editor Rolando Garro, and when he refuses to pay up, the next day the pictures are on the front page. Meanwhile, Enrique's wife is in the midst of a passionate and secret affair with the wife of Enrique's lawyer and best friend. When Garro is murdered, all of them are thrown into a whirlwind of navigating Peru's unspoken laws and customs, and in this "audacious and skillful novel" (Publishers Weekly) by Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, the staff of the magazine embarks on its greatest exposé yet.