The novel is a chronicle told in the voice of the people of a small country on the Caribbean coast, recounting the more than two-century-long dictatorship of a general whose name is never given. The work fully conveys how unhappy one can be while possessing power but not knowing how to use it, how inattentive one can be to some people while closely watching others, how hated one can be while hearing loud praise from all around, how deprived one can be while having everything.