Katherine 'Katie' Connors travels to San Marcos, a remote Mexican fishing village, on assignment for Sight magazine to locate the elusive adventurer and novelist Mike Latimer, a man who quit writing at the height of his fame and has dropped from public view. Latimer now spends his days drinking, fishing, hunting, and piloting his own aircraft, a life that fascinates Katie but also conceals her real mission. As she carefully engineers a meeting, a tug of attraction grows between them; Katie finds herself drawn to Latimer, even as she keeps the true purpose of her visit secret.
Latimer reveals that his wife was the muse behind his literary success, and that he stopped writing after she left him for his best friend. Faced with this painful truth, Katie decides to return to New York, but Latimer offers to fly her to Mexico City and asks for Katie to write down her address so they can stay in touch. The flight takes a dangerous turn when a magnetized notebook in Katie’s purse interferes with the aircraft’s compass, sending the two off course into the jungle. The plane runs out of fuel and crash-lands in a clearing, leaving Latimer knocked unconscious and waking up in a bed inside the main house of a distant hacienda.
Katie introduces Latimer to their would-be rescuers, the Englishman Browne and the Dutch archaeologist Dr. Van Anders, who live on the estate with Jan, another European resident. Latimer is puzzled when the rifle bullet he carries—a memento from D-Day—draws questions about its origin, a detail that hints at a darker story behind his disappearance. Browne, a formidable big-game hunter, claims to have no contact with the outside world and maintains control through canny dogs that prowl the grounds and keep the local population in check. When Latimer investigates his missing aircraft, he discovers that it has vanished, and a radio news broadcast later confirms Katie’s identity and the original purpose of her visit. She tries to reassure Latimer that she won’t report the story, but he remains wary and distant.
A storeroom later reveals military gear marked with Nazi insignia, items from Latimer’s missing plane supposedly taken by locals, and a collection of hunting rifles. The barking of the dogs rouses Browne and Van Anders; Latimer overhears them speaking German and realizes they may not be who they appear to be. The pair learns that Browne has been hiding his own airworthy aircraft, raising the stakes for a potential escape. Latimer rapidly pieces together Browne’s true nature: a notorious turncoat who, during the war, broadcast Nazi propaganda from Berlin. He adds that his wife was the sister of Van Anders, who himself is a German war criminal intent on killing Latimer and Katie.
A tense pursuit ensues as Browne, leading Van Anders, Jan, and the dogs, tracks them through the jungle. A deadly encounter with wild pigs delays their capture, and Latimer sets a clever booby trap that fatally eliminates Jan. As Katie nears exhaustion, Latimer realizes the aircraft remains unguarded and the chase tightens. They return to the hacienda and barricade themselves inside the chapel. Van Anders pretends to negotiate, then shoots through the door, forcing Latimer to stay alert. Latimer outsmarts him, using a bullet hole in the door as a makeshift gun barrel and a chisel to ignite the primer, fatally wounding Browne. The final bid for freedom comes as Latimer and Katie take off in Browne’s aircraft, and Van Anders is killed by the aircraft’s propeller when he tries to block their path. They manage to escape to safety, the peril behind them as they fly toward freedom.
