In the aftermath of her mother's death, Cat recklessly defers her admission to Stanford and joins Students Without Boundaries. She is sent to the South American city of Calante, torn apart by a recent civil war. There she meets Margo, a sophisticated urbanite out to pad her resume for medical school, and Taylor, heir to a hotel fortune and hoping to redeem himself after a failed freshman year at college. She also meets Rafael, a local boy battling his own grief and demons, desperate to be the savior he thinks his country needs. As her relationship with Rafael deepens, Cat is no longer sure what she wants or what is right and wrong.