After refusing to obey a senior surgeon, John Lake, an American volunteer doctor in Laos, is instructed to take a leave of absence. To regroup, he travels to a remote island in the south of Laos. The solace of the island is shattered when John intervenes in the sexual assault of a young Laotian woman, accidentally killing her assailant. Horrified by the violence and the prospect of being sent to prison, John panics and flees. He soon discovers that he's wanted not only for the murder of an Australian Senator's son, but also for the rape of the very woman he saved. What follows is a harrowing journey through the Laotian interior that will test and transform John in profound ways.