The country of El Salvador endured its civil war from 1979 to 1992, when a peace treaty was established, originating with the influence of the United Nations. The events of its war were unique, in that several disparate factions united into two passionate fronts; i.e., the militia (junta), with the support of ammunition, training, and financial assistance from the United States; and the guerrillas, composed of various levels of its society, including children and women; from peasants to teachers and professors and students, along with automobile mechanics and janitorial engineers. The events were complicated further by the establishment of a select group of peasants who were forced to protect the government soldiers from their own people. Michael Schroeder is a young journalist starting out his career in the 1980s in the suburbs of Chicago. He happens to stumble upon an article about the civil war in El Salvador, sparking a yearning to translate his empathy for the innocence of the common people into his own words. His journey is a risk that he eagerly embraces, confronting the tragedies of war up close, and finding justification for his privileged life in America.