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The characters inGrim Fandango are based on Mexicancalaca figures used to celebrate theDay of the Dead.

The game is divided into four acts, each taking place on November 2 on four consecutive years.[9] Manuel “Manny” Calavera is a travel agent at the Department of Death in the city of El Marrow, forced into his job to work off a debt “to the powers that be”.[10] Manny is frustrated with being assigned clients that must take the four-year journey and is threatened to be fired by his boss, Don Copal, if he does not come up with better clients. Manny steals a client, Mercedes “Meche” Colomar, from his co-worker Domino Hurley. The Department computers assign Meche to the four-year journey even though Manny believes she should have a guaranteed spot on the “Number Nine” luxury express train due to her pureness of heart in her life.[11] After setting Meche on her way, Manny investigates further and finds that Domino and Don have been rigging the system to deny many clients Double N tickets, hoarding them for the boss of the criminal underworld, Hector LeMans. LeMans then sells the tickets at an exorbitant price to those that can afford it. Manny recognizes that he cannot stop Hector at present and instead, with the help of his driver and speed demon Glottis, he tries to find Meche on her journey in the nearby Petrified Forest. During the trip Manny encounters Salvador “Sal” Limones, the leader of the small underground organization Lost Souls Alliance (LSA), who is aware of Hector’s plans and recruits Manny to help.[12] Manny arrives at the small port city of Rubacava and finds that he has beaten Meche there, and waits for her to show up.

The cast of Grim Fandango. In front center are Domino, Meche, Manny, and Sal. Glottis is in the upper left and Hector is on the far right. The game’s creator, Tim Schafer, is in the bottom-left corner.

A year passes, and the city of Rubacava has grown. Manny now runs his own nightclub off a converted automat near the edge of the Forest. Manny learns from Olivia Ofrenda that Don has been “sprouted” for letting the scandal be known and that Meche was recently seen with Domino leaving the port. Manny gives chase and a year later tracks them to a coral mining plant on the Edge of the World. Domino has been holding Meche there as a trap to lure Manny.[13] All of Domino’s clients who had their tickets stolen are also being held there and used as slave labor, both to make a profit with the coral mining and as a way to keep Hector’s scandal quiet. Domino tries to convince Manny to take over his position in the plant seeing as he has no alternative and can spend the rest of eternity with Meche but he refuses. After rescuing Meche, Manny defeats Domino by causing him to fall into a rock crusher. Manny, along with Meche, Glottis and all the souls being held at the plant then escape from the Edge of the World.