A naive but intrepid young man, fresh from university in the 1960s, takes a well-paid banking job in Brazil for which he is ill-suited, at a time when the country hardly figures on the world stage. Inspired by Brazil's rich African heritage and the remarkable powers of voodoo priests to heal the sick, he gives up banking and returns to live as a research student in remote communities, examining how serious illnesses are cured by herbs, flogging and fumigation.