"The Prince" is introduced by a list of the Presidents of the Republic of Tinieblas, some of whom were illegitimate ("appointed with the advice and consent of the U.S. Ambassador") and some of whom left office spectacularly ("deposed and fed to sharks," "held office for 36 hours and resigned when his ammunition ran out.") The narration is taken up by Enrique "Kiki" Sancudo, son of the man who has most often been President. Now a quadriplegic, blasted into a wheelchair by the gun of his only friend, he reviews the histories of his country and his father along with his own as a complete man of action—wrestler, arms smuggler, Olympic champion, Lothario, gambler at Yale, Ambassador to Paris, husband of a movie star, and eventually presidential candidate. All the while he campaigns for his father's fourth re-election and plans a fiendish revenge.