Flora, the illegitimate child of a wealthy Peruvian father and French mother, grows up in poverty, and after fleeing a brutal husband, journeys to Peru to demand her inheritance. Paul, a struggling husband, journeys to Peru to demand her inheritance. Paul, a struggling painter, abandons his wife and five children for life in the South Seas, where his dreams of paradise are poisoned by syphilis, and a chronic lack of funds, though he has his pick of teenage Tahitian lovers and paints some of his greatest works.

This double portrait is a rare study in passion and ambition. Vargas Llosa makes stunning art of their unlikely lives, chronicling their obstinate pursuit of greatness in the face of adventure, illness and death.