Don Diego de Zama leads a suspended existence as a sort of upper-tier government clerk in what is now Paraguay. He has not seen his wife and children in years. His relationships with his fellow Europeans are strained due to competition and confusion, while his interactions with the settlement's Black and Indigenous servants are addled by desire and hostility. Zama's entire sense of purpose is tied up in the promise that he will soon be delivered to his rightful position in faraway Buenos Aires, but the waiting seems endless. As time passes, Zama's paranoia and capacity for violence burgeons – while his circumstances become only more precarious.