When 14-year-old Benita’s Papa is wiped out by the Depression, he moves the family from Guayaquil, Ecuador, to the primitive island of Puna with a wild scheme to start a coconut plantation. Benita moves from a grand house to camping out in a shack on the beach; from going to school to working in the fields. But Papa’s no farmer, and he makes trouble with the islanders. The only good thing about Puna is Raul, the handsome young man who dazzles Benita. When he asks her to leave her family to live in the wilderness, Benita runs off with him. The jungle is beautiful, dangerous, and full of secrets, and they must struggle for their survival as they try to build a relationship with each other.