Writer Nick Gardenia is kidnapped from his California cliffhouse and forced to rob a bank. Now a fugitive, he seeks help from his ex-wife who is now a public defender and has remarried — to a prosecutor.

A young Seminole indian boy comes of age outside the Florida Everglades by trying to enter the establishment (white man's world). He gets work as crew member on (Brian Keith's) fishing boat, hunts for alligators and has cathartic encounters with bad guys trying to bring illegal aliens into Florida on fishing boats.