In the fictional city of Rosal del Virrey, Senator Onésimo Sánchez is a married, 42-year-old politician who has six months and eleven days left to live. He’s making a campaign stop for his reelection effort, and it’s ironic—since he’s so near death—that Senator Onésimo Sánchez will meet the “woman of his life” during this trip. (He already has a family at home.)
The senator and his procession of political aides arrive in Rosal del Virrey—a poor port city known as a haven for smugglers and criminals—on a hot summer’s day. The senator’s reelection convoy comes with all the trappings of political spectacle: music, rockets, even wagons full of people (indigenous Indians) that the campaign has rented to make the senator’s crowd at his speech appear bigger. The city is dry and arid, and its name is a misnomer: there are no roses in town, save for the one that the senator carries on his suit.
Before his scheduled speech, the senator takes an hour to himself. Alone in the house that his campaign has rented for his stay, he sets the rose he’s carrying down in a glass of water. He takes his pain medication prior to the time it’s prescribed because he wants to head off the pain rather than wait for it. He undresses and lays down in a hammock for a quick nap, trying hard not to think about the fact that he is dying. As he is the only person besides his doctors who knows of his fatal diagnosis, he feels an overwhelming sense of isolation.
When it is time for his speech, the senator is clean and rested. However, he notices that his emotions are sharper than usual. He begins his speech with a tone that is near fury. Rather than looking to tell the truth in his speech, he intentionally sets an overly grand tone, speaking about “defeating nature.” While the senator is giving his speech, his aides throw paper birds in the air, which take on the appearance of real birds flying out to sea. The aides then take out cardboard trees and houses; behind the backs of the citizens, who are turned to face the senator, they set up a fictional city over the real one, covering the run-down homes of the village.
While the senator is speaking, a man named Nelson Farina watches from the hammock of his home. Nelson Farina previously lived on Devil’s Island where he murdered his first wife. He smuggled himself to Rosal del Virrey along with a beautiful woman from Paramaribo with whom he had a daughter. The woman has since died, but she was buried peacefully in Rosal del Virrey, unlike Nelson Farina’s first wife whose body he used as fertilizer. Nelson Farina sees the senator’s farce from the opposite side as the townspeople, and he sneers at the dishonesty of the politician. Typically, Nelson Farina goes to all of the senator’s speeches; for twelve years, he’s been asking the senator to issue him a false identity card so that his criminal past can’t catch up with him. The senator always refuses, and this year Nelson Farina appears to have given up.
After his speech, Senator Onésimo Sanchez walks through town, shaking people’s hands and promising his constituents favors—but no favors that would be too burdensome for him to fulfill. The senator reaches Nelson Farina’s house; Farina sits in his hammock, looking unhappy, but the senator still walks over to say hello. The two exchange stiff pleasantries; then, Nelson Farina’s daughter, Laura Farina, comes outside. Though she is dressed in a worn robe and with sunscreen on her face and bows in her hair, the senator thinks she is possibly the most beautiful woman in the world. He mutters in awe to himself.
A little while later, the senator meets in his office with the politically important people of Rosal del Virrey. Here, behind closed doors, he is much more forthcoming than he was with the citizens. He criticizes the others for not wanting to change the conditions of the city, for making a living off of the inhospitable weather and climate. However, he also crudely insults the village and the conditions of the city.
Meanwhile, Laura Farina waits outside the senator’s office; Nelson Farina has dressed her in their best clothes and sent her to the senator. When his meeting is over, Senator Onésimo Sánchez sees Laura Farina in the hall and asks her why she’s there. She responds that it is on behalf of her father. The senator believes he understands what this means—that she’s been sent as a bribe in exchange for a false identification card. The senator hesitates, but then lets her into his office.
Once inside, the two don’t quite know what to do. The senator shows her the rose that he’s had since he arrived, which has wilted in the heat. They talk, awkwardly; she tells him her age—nineteen—and birthday, and he notes that they are both Aires, which he says is the sign of solitude. Then, the senator has them lay down next to each other. He attempts to touch Laura Farina, but realizes she is wearing an iron chastity belt. She tells him that her father has the key and will only give it to him if he gets him a false identity card. The senator sighs, then considers the fact that he will be dead soon. This reality, coupled with her beauty, makes the senator agree to Laura that he will help her father. She offers to go get the key, but the senator instead asks that she stay with him; he holds her close to him and lays his head beneath her arm, while she stares ahead at the rose.
Six months later, as predicted by his doctors, the senator dies. He died marred in scandal because of this affair with Laura Farina, but at the end he was weeping only because she didn't follow him in death.
