The novel is narrated by William Cody, born in London in 1970 and brought up alone by his father, Issac. To bridge the generation gap between them, his father tells William stories of their shared ancestry and in particular of Issac's grandfather, the famous cowboy Buffalo Bill. In his twenties, William leaves home for Japan, escaping his father and his increasingly dominant tales of Buffalo Bill. Whilst abroad, he falls in love with Hitomi, a woman who represents the opposite of the world he has left behind, rooted in history, ancestry and story telling. When his father proposes that together they should recreate Buffalo Bill's stage show, 'The Congress of Rough Riders of the World' for a contemporary audience, William refuses to have any part in it. Tragedy strikes however and William must eventually return with his own son to his dying father.