During the 1930s, 40s and 50s, Central American countries faced a series of tyrannical repressions by military-led governments. After WWII, US interest shifted to address a new threat: communist incursions in the region. Caught in this post-war juxtaposition was a group of young professionals in El Salvador led by an enigmatic rebel, who skillfully promoted aggressive reforms and alliances to establish a representative government. Swept into the insurgency is a young dentist. When his participation is exposed, he is forced to flee the country. The choice takes him and his family to post-war San Francisco, California where he is recruited by an eccentric millionaire dentist bent on exposing the prejudicial actions of his nemesis, the American Dental Association. Meanwhile, Salvadoran death-squad pursuers force the immigrant into a series of ethnocentric experiences, which eventually force the young dentist into a dramatic choice despite their eagerness to return to their native land.