Invariably, what is found is not what was looked for, but the journey is nonetheless completed. Riddles, stories, and tall tales abound from the very beginning. Considering retirement, and alone since his wife's death, he decides to trace five former students who were placed in almost inaccessible Indian mountain communities to provide health services to the needy.
Events soon take a turn for the worse.
We are presented with a picture of a bloody and merciless war, which is very real for a few people, while the rest of the world remains oblivious. The lines are never very clear between army and guerrillas. The army is white, and white men are the enemies of the Indians, but there are Indians in the army, capable of just as much cruelty against their own people. In remote villages, the Salt people, the Sugar people, the Coffee, Banana and Gum people, try impossibly to please both sides, while scratching subsistence from the jungle and maintaining the calm acceptance in the face of immeasurable horrors, which has made it so easy for them to be seen as victims. These are deeply religious people, and religious symbolism abounds.