Joan Wilder is a mousey writer of romance novels. She finds a package from her sister mailed from Colombia in her mailbox. A call from her sister tells her that she has been kidnapped and that bringing the package to Colombia is necessary for her safety and release. Being fairly clueless, she leaves for Colombia to rescue her sister. She is lost within hours of her arrival. She is nearly murdered by one of the men searching for the package when Jack Colton, a fairly low life American rescues her. They begin a journey through the jungle with bullets flying nearby. Is Joan up to all of this? What a way to find out.

Maya is a quick-witted young woman who comes over the Mexican border without papers and makes her way to the LA home of her older sister Rosa. Rosa gets Maya a job as a janitor: a non-union janitorial service has the contract, the foul-mouthed supervisor can fire workers on a whim, and the service-workers’ union has assigned organizer Sam Shapiro to bring its “justice for janitors” campaign to the building. Sam finds Maya a willing listener, she’s also attracted to him. Rosa resists, she has an ailing husband to consider. The workers try for public support; management intimidates workers to divide and conquer. Rosa and Maya as well as workers and management may be set to collide.