On Canada's West coast, Rod's boat repair business was overwhelmed with work in the summers and underwhelmed through the long wet winters. Hearing of a small English-speaking country called Belize in Central America, Rod decided to warm up the winter by driving down 7000 kilometres to check out the possibility of living and working in a country with year-round boating.
As days of non-stop driving alone can be tedious, Rod contacted his cousin, Nick, whom he hadn't seen since he was one year old, but who had recently moved to Los Angeles. Nick couldn't remember who Rod was, but he talked up the idea of Nick accompanying him on his adventure to Belize: "There's Mayan temples, jaguars, tapirs, and the second-longest barrier reef in the world. And it's cheap." Nick was interested but replied, "Sounds good. Um, where is Belize?"

To bypass a traffic jam in Mexico, they took a shortcut through the jungle, almost lost the car, got stopped by 17 armed soldiers, and Rod lost his wallet in a shady bar. They find themselves aboard a luxury yacht owned by unsavoury characters running a drug business, who think Rod and Nick are police informers. They spend time on a ranch and float on air mattresses down the Belize river, and Rod finds himself on a spooked horse tearing through the jungle. Read the book to see how it ends!