Combining art and biography, the novel consists of alternating literary portraits inspired by works of Dali and Velazquez. As the title suggests, the loose story frame of the novel is that of the Herculean labor to find the twilight realm of the lovely nymphs of the Hesperides and, by conquering the dragon that jealously guards it, to plunder the garden of its golden apples of immortality. The contemporary fable casts the artist as the hero who, armed only with paintbrushes and inkwells, confronts the demons of his subconscious.