The story is based on the chronicles of the twelfth son in a family of 14 brothers.
The story takes place in Mexico from 1920s to 1950s. The union of DJ and Maria begins soon after the Mexican Revolution. DJ is a man of strong character and a mystifying past. He is charismatic, eloquent, raconteur and a philanderer. He governs and disciplines his 14 sons with iron hand, and has a stranglehold on Maria. The family eventually settles in Mexicali in the mid 40s. Here DJ and sons build the family home and start businesses in home building and carpentry. They also run a store and rent a row of flats next to their home.
One day DJ sits in the workshop sharpening his tools when the ladies from the flats join him to be entertained with his blood-curdling stories. Some stories sound far-fetched, but it is the way he weaves thought-provoking anecdotes of his past.
DJ's life begins during the violent times after the Mexican Revolution. There are attempts on his life, but he has close associations with military generals and executes quick justice on criminals by hanging or by the sword.
In the 1920s DJ works in the Arizona mines. He contracts Black Lung Miners Disease and he and Maria return to Mexico in a 1929 Ford, Fordor, to start a new life of journeys. In a village his wife is assaulted and DJ takes revenge by hanging the robbers.
In Mexicali their life begins in a hut of cardboard and wood, but later, after working in the farms of Indio, they build a house, a store and a row of flats and have a successful business in home building.