The steamy mountain jungles of Nicaragua provide a sanctuary for ex-US Marine Jim Slater as he struggles to build a schoolhouse for a rural community ravaged by the country's civil war. Haunted by demons that have followed him from Vietnam, Slater only wants to be left in peace. But that peace is shattered when the beautiful contra fighter, Maria Martinez, pulls him from a pub just before the rebels blow it up. When a plot to assassinate an important Sandinista colonel fails, and Maria is taken prisoner, Slater is propelled into the conflict, determined to rescue the woman he loves. With the help of a local CIA operative, Slater embarks on a harrowing journey that will change his life forever...if he even survives.