Born and raised on an Army base, Syl Castillo, an island boy of mixed ancestry, fancies himself as another John Wayne after years of living with the Americans. His idyllic world comes to an abrupt end when World War II erupts in the Pacific. Surviving the Bataan Death March and sicknesses, he becomes a guerrilla fighter against the Japanese for several years before visiting the U.S. Although not an American citizen, he gets drafted into the service because of the Korean War. After five years with U.S. Air Force intelligence units where he holds top security clearance, the government decides to deport him at the end of his enlistment because his stay in the U.S. and enlistment are deemed fraudulent. Neither the military legal system nor civilian judicial courts could find a solution to his seemingly insurmountable immigration problem. As the minutes tick off, Castillo finds help in the most unlikely places.