The book opens with the narrator and protagonist Apollo, the god of the sun, music, archery, and medicine, introducing himself to the reader with the disclaimer that he “used” to be a god. Apollo remarks that in the 4,612 years of his immortal life, he has performed many spectacular feats, such as inflicting a plague on the Greeks besieging Troy, but he has never before crash-landed into a dumpster.

Apollo does not remember how he ended up on Earth, but he “woke up falling” into a pile of garbage bags in a narrow alley in Manhattan (1). All he could recall is the voice of his father, Zeus, the king of the Gods, saying: “YOUR FAULT, YOUR PUNISHMENT” (1). The worst part of Apollo’s punishment is that he has been transformed into a mortal. Apollo inspects his new body and recognizes that he is a teenager. A wallet in his jeans reveals his mortal name to be Lester Papadopoulos. As Apollo tries to walk out of the alley, he is blocked by two young men named Cade and Mikey, with tattoos of serpents on their arms. Cade and Mikey try to mug Apollo.