the story revolves around the relationship between a young artist, who has taken the name chibiabos elgreco winnegan, and the man he calls "grandpa winnegan" (actually his mother's great-great-grandfather), who hides inside the apartments that "chib" shares with his mother in the community of ellay. grandpa is in hiding from the government, and most people think of him as having pulled off some huge swindle in the past. in fact, he was a successful businessman whose workers were highly paid and very content, much more so than the average recipient of the "purple wage". the resentment which this caused motivated the "gummint" to close down his business, whereupon he managed to steal twenty billion dollars, which has never been found, and (apparently) died. a federal agent calling himself "falco accipiter" has resolved to hunt down the money at all costs, and is harassing chib.