In response to a minor emotional crisis, a young, somewhat naive American man runs off to South America on a fool-hearty journey to "find himself." Over the course of several months, he wanders from the beaches and festival cities on the coast of Brazil to the dead center middle of the Amazon jungle. Along the way, he encounters a great variety of people from all walks of life: backpackers,bums,con-artists, scoundrels, prostitutes, cops, criminals, artists, entrepreneurs, anti-American extremists, pro-American patriots and, of course, a few very beautiful women. Unfortunately, he also becomes accidentally involved in drug smuggling and several people end up dead. Will the young hero succeed in finding himself during his epic journey? Or will the crazy fool's reckless adventure end in total disaster?