Brazil, 1943. Three brothers set out into the feral center of the country seeking adventure. Armed with an insatiable curiosity, they befriend a village of Xingu Indians, and together they build an airstrip to bring modernity to this ancient place. But after a flu epidemic wipes out half the village, the brothers' naïveté turns into a decades-long fight to protect the Xingu from the disastrous side effects of progress.