Oklahoman Jack Harjo gets swept up in the civil rights movement of the early 1960s. An early chance encounter with Sargent Shriver leads Jack to be one of the first of the "Kennedy Kids" to join the Peace Corps.

Jacj and his rowdy friends go to Costa Rica seeking adventure. In a jungle village on the Nicaraguan border, Jack finds a grinding poverty. When a baby dies in his arms, Jack vows to do whatever it takes to break this iron fist of poverty.

Jack and his friend Victor meet Che Guevara in Nicaragua, where Che is fomenting revolution. Victor and Che urge Jack to augment his fledgling farmers co-op by laundering marijuana money. Jack struggles with the moral consequences of such a move until a cacao blight forces the issue, changing his and Victor's lives forever.