Dr. Pretorius, who needs to track down Frankenstein's monster who is believed to have died in a fire forty years before in order to continue the experiments of Dr. Frankenstein.
Lee, who recounts his life in Mexico City among American expatriate college students and bar owners surviving on part-time jobs and GI Bill benefits. He is driven to pursue a young man named Allerton, who is based on Adelbert Lewis Marker.
In 1930s Chicago, Frankenstein asks Dr. Euphronius to help create a companion. They give life to a murdered woman as the Bride, sparking romance, police interest, and radical social change.