A disgraced linguist is wrenched from a prestigious language institute in Oklahoma and thrown into a violent Mayan uprising in the jungles of Chiapas, Mexico. Setting out to rescue his kidnapped mother and sister, he also seeks personal and professional redemption. He plunges into a quagmire of social revolution, ancient bloodletting rituals, paramilitary massacres, kidnappings, bio-pirating, misdirected love, and chili-hot seduction.