On the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua in 1926, U.S. expatriates manage fruit plantations, timber companies, and gold mines. When a stunning local woman named Dorette Fox entangles herself with two Americans, the desultory love triangle combined with an escalating civil war results in murder. Cordell Fletcher, a young officer from the U.S. consulate sent north from Bluefields to investigate the death, finds that the shooting is not over.