Matt has always been nothing but a clone—grown from a strip of old El Patron’s skin. Now, at age fourteen, he finds himself suddenly thrust into the position of ruling over his own country. The Land of Opium is the largest territory of the Dope Confederacy, which ranges on the map like an intestine from the ruins of San Diego to the ruins of Matamoros. But while Opium thrives, the rest of the world has been devastated by ecological disaster—and hidden in Opium is the cure. And that isn’t all that awaits within the depths of Opium. Matt is haunted by the ubiquitous army of eejits, zombielike workers harnessed to the old El Patron’s sinister system of drug growing—people stripped of the very qualities that once made them human.

Matt wants to use his newfound power to help, to stop the suffering, but he can’t even find a way to smuggle his childhood love, Maria, across the border and into Opium. Instead, his every move hits a roadblock, some from the enemies that surround him…and some from a voice within himself. For who is Matt really, but the clone of an evil, murderous dictator?

麥特是一個複製人，是從艾爾‧派特龍的皮膚細胞增生出來的。正值十四歲的他，發現他即將要被推派成為國家領導人。鴉片王國是毒品聯盟最大的領土，從地圖上來看，毒品聯盟的版圖一路從聖地牙哥的廢墟蜿蜒到馬塔莫羅斯的殘垣。正當鴉片王國興盛繁榮時，世界上其餘的國家正遭遇一場生態浩劫，而解藥就藏在鴉片王國裡。但一波未平，一波又起，麥特被神出鬼沒的反對軍所困擾，殭屍般的工人控制了艾爾‧派特龍圖謀不軌的藥物生產系統，人們漸漸失去了身為人的特質。

麥特希望用自己新發明的藥物去阻止這場災難，但他卻無法幫助自己的初戀情人瑪麗亞穿過邊境，進入鴉片王國。他的每一步都困難重重，有些是周圍的敵人帶來的困擾，有些是他內心的掙扎，若麥特不是那邪惡殘暴獨裁者複製人，那麼他的真實身分到底是誰？