There needed to be an overland route of supply from India to China in WWll. Someone had to build it. The job fell to General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, and he brought 15,000 black men from America to Ledo, Assam in India to do it. They fought disease, leeches, the monsoon and the Japanese to get it done. Under the command of Lewis Pick they turned jungle into road. This is the story of one Jefferson Goode , a jazz trumpet player, who writes the diary. And it is of his friend and community activist, Joey Carver. They are two boys from Philadelphia, who find themselves as roadbuilders, who fight the elements, the enemy and prejudice and segregation. Through the words and thoughts of Jefferson, this adventure unfolds.