Based on the novel by Paul Theroux, an inventor disillusioned by the growing bureaucracy of America uproots his family to build a utopia in the jungle of Central America. There he finds new threats...

Based on the novel by Paul Theroux, an inventor disillusioned by the growing bureaucracy of America uproots his family to build a utopia in the jungle of Central America. There he finds new threats to his freedom and peace of mind, with tragic results. A brilliant and obsessive inventor, fed up with capitalistic and consumeristic modern society, picks up and moves his family to an isolated Caribbean island, where he puts his ideas into practice. Under his guidance, his new home at first becomes a paradise, but bit by bit, both his mind and his world begin to fall apart.