The Waodani are the most violent society ever documented by anthropologists, with a 60% mortality rate resulting from war and vendetta murders. When Nate Saint (Chad Allen), and four other missionaries, Jim Elliot (Sean McGowan), Ed McCully (Stephen Caudill), Pete Fleming (Matt Lutz) and Roger Youderian (Patrick Zeller), fly in to make contact with the tribe, they are brutally speared to death by Mincayani (Louie Leonardo) and his tribe.
Chad Allen plays the role of the pilot and of Steve Saint, his son, as an adult years later.
As the son of a murdered man, Steve, according to Waodani culture, is supposed to avenge his father's death. He refuses to do so, even when the man responsible tells him of his guilt. Rather, Steve extends mercy. "No one took my father's life," he explains. "He gave it."