When Raymond Karr is approached by a murderous gang to become a drug smuggler bringing narcotics from Africa, he immediately rejects the proposition. A straight-shooting immigrant, he abhors besmirching his family’s honor. But his deep-seated passion to attend George Washington Medical School is unmatched by his dismal financial capability, causing him to vacillate as his better instinct struggles with his ambition.

Eventually, through a series of coincidences and inertia, despite the re-occurrence of an eerie dream in a field of Oleander, he is swept along the road to criminality. After a tempestuous affair with a beautiful Latina whom he determines to impress into a permanent relationship, it’s game on.