This book follows a couple of young poets, Ulises Lima and Arturo Belano, as they traverse the world and try to start the Visceral Realist poetry movement in Mexico. The beginning and the end of the novel are written from the point of view of a young poet, who is trying to be part of the Visceral Realists, and the rest of the book is from the point of view of various characters from all over the world, who have widely differing opinions of the two poets. The novel is loosely based on the life of the author, Roberto Bolaño, who chooses Arturo Belano to be his alter ego.