A lot of Americans vanish into Bolivia. Being a professional magician, Jonathan was just especially good at it. He had come, convinced that its fantastic mountain deserts and mythic Indian cultures infused the place with actual magic - the real thing - in contrast to North America, which had been emptied of it.

Worried about his mental state, his straitlaced sister has arrived from the States to find him. She enlists the help of a stranded American named Roger who speaks Spanish and the Aymara Indian dialect, and they set out together.

Roger learns that her brother used to perform in public, that he subsists on fruit juice and dope, and that the locals have taken to calling him Flame. Unlike her brother, Roger is desperate to leave. He has done 23 countries in 10 years and is feeling fragile: "a candle burning low ...

Any unnecessary excitement just might blow it out." Unfortunately, Flame has given up street performance to be the private entertainment for an immensely wealthy criminal oligarch with his own all too exciting talents for making things disappear.