In 1965 Tom and two friends bring 12 kilos of pot back from Mexico on a teenage lark. Having acquired a contact, Tom goes on to have larger quantities of pot smuggled across the border in cars driven by straight-looking secretaries. He then meets Bruce, who is several years older, sophisticated, and self-confident—qualities Tom wishes he had. Bruce is a skilled pilot and begins flying loads in from Mexico, quickly escalating to a half ton at a time. Tom coordinates the score and distributes the grass when it gets back to the Bay Areav—all while maintaining a full course load at UC Berkeley.

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Tom’s roommate “jumps” Tom’s Mexican contact and starts a heroin smuggling operation, which Tom is morally opposed to and vows to stop.

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A half-ton load is stolen and Tom is crushed but immerses himself in his course work. Two months later, after acing his finals, he and a friend make a half-hearted attempt to track down the stolen grass in a hunt which takes on Sherlock Holmes proportions.

Tom and a friend try to score off the biggest, most dangerous suppliers in Sinaloa and are ripped off for $7,000, framed, and thrown into the Mazatlán jail, where they are told they will get three to seven years.

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The plane runs fall through and Tom takes to wading sacks of grass through the Rio Grande, nearly gets busted, then partners with Bruce to bring hashish back from Afghanistan.

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Out of smuggling ideas, Tom falls in love and spends an idyllic two years importing embroidered clothing from Mexico with his girlfriend. His stellar reputation in the smuggling world persists, though, and he is drawn into two large operations: a ton at a time flown out of Colombia with a drop-off to water and six tons at a time coming in from Mexico in semi-trailers past a bribed customs officer.

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Tom makes an unusual decision.