Julio César Arana, a rubber baron in the Putumayo region, who was characterized by being a callous, heartless, and debased personality, allies himself with foreign companies, to exploit rubber reserves in the Peruvian Amazon region. He stops at nothing, not even the extermination of indigenous tribes. Thus, the so-called crimes of Putumayo occur; the Amazonian communities rebel and resist.
Mexican medical researchers are lost in a plane crash in the Amazon basin, which triggers a whole bunch of adventure-movie subplots.
A young man from Lima with a dissipated life will receive an inheritance, but a testamentary clause imposes a condition: he must travel all over Peru. He starts a long journey of two years which takes him through all the regions of the country. He observes agriculture, industry, mining, retail and gets to know the many ways in which his compatriots earn their living.