The novel highlights the adventures of Gord Brown who is thrown out of the SAS for insubordination. After his expulsion, Gord Brown lives on a failing salmon farm in the Scottish highlands. To his surprise, three Guatemalan Indians track him down. For them, he represents the last hope of freedom. They come to recruit a fighting man to lead an uprising against the brutal military dictatorship which is killing their people. Gord journeys with them to Cuba, then on with a small band of men to a rough landing strip in the forest of Guatemala.