HANNAH MCNEIL (30s), a lawyer who has recently been successful lobbying for the controversial All Aboard Florida rapid train, arrives in Sebastian, FL to visit her sister APRIL (20s) and her treasure-hunting boyfriend MATTHEW (20s) under the pretense of being an environmentalist, but really to earn respect and a possible lobbying job for the sugarcane industry. She meets laid-back fisherman CAMP FORESTER (30s) who is against Hannah’s prodevelopment attitude. She enjoys his company and the tour he gives of the ocean filled with lobster, the beaches filled with turtle nests, and the Indian River Lagoon, filled with the problems of pollution and runoff from agri-business.

Sugarcane King DIEGO RAMIREZ (50s) and his voodoo-practicing wife SOPHIA (40s) build a new sugarcane refinery and celebrate with a grand opening and a visit from CONGRESSMAN SMALL (50s). Camp and Matthew join a protest at the grand opening and are arrested when a sheriff’s deputy tries to take away a sign held by Camp. The deputy’s hand slips, pokes Camp in the eye, and Camp decks him, resulting in a trip to the county slammer, big problems with his wealthy citrus family, and heat on Camp’s favorite hang out, Capt. Hiram’s resort in Sebastian where the protest rallies are planned.

Camp’s father, although upset as usual with his son, hires lawyer SAM BLACK (50s) to negotiate a good-old-Florida-boy reduction in charges from a felony to a misdemeanor and small fine. This uplifts the protest movement and they celebrate with a fishing tournament and party at Capt. Hiram’s. However, the result upsets Mrs. Ramirez, who places a voodoo curse on Camp, Matthew, and TOM COLLINS (50s), the owner of Capt. Hiram’s. Similarly, Congressman Small, dismayed with the negotiated plea, ups the stakes by convincing the Assistant US Attorney to make the charge a federal case by placing the struck deputy in an EPA task force.

Camp, Matthew, and Tom Collins have bad luck in the fishing tournament, worse luck when they return to the resort. Camp and Matthew are arrested and Tom is served with papers notifying him that the federal government is going to exercise its eminent domain rights and turn Capt. Hiram’s resort into a Coast Guard facility. Sam Black attempts his legal charm again but gets nowhere as the boys are beaten into submission by the overwhelming federal pressure. Capt. Hiram’s considers bankruptcy, Matthew considers testifying against Camp, and April and Hannah are left with nothing to hope for. 

Hannah uncovers the fact that the deputy’s EPA task force enlistment was back-dated, and that he wasn’t a federal officer at the time of the incident. Sam Black wins a judgment and settlement putting Capt. Hiram’s back in business, Camp and Matthew back on the water, and the protest movement back in the spotlight. Hannah adopts a plan to use the nutrient runoff that caused the algae bloom in the lagoon to instead turn Mr. Forrester’s abandoned citrusblighted groves into a filter for the water. The lagoon is saved, Hannah refuses a job with the sugarcane industry and instead becomes an environmentalist. Camp changes his attitude to join Hannah and his father in the new project to clean the water that will save the lagoon.