In 1964, a nineteen-year-old cowboy named Douglas Cox from Bandera, Texas, is drafted into the Army on the cusp of US involvement in the Vietnam War.
He is stationed at Ubon Air Base in Thailand; his job is filling spray tanks on aircraft with an herbicide called Agent Orange. The purpose is to defoliate jungles in Vietnam and Thailand where the Viet Cong can hide. Although he has side effects from contact with the chemical, he feels fortunate not to be in a combat zone.
Life in Ubon is like living in an alternate universe to Doug, away from anything comfortable or familiar. He views it as a temporary part of his life that will return to normal when he goes home, and he succumbs to peer pressure and temptation with an innocent Thai girl.
He rationalizes he is saving her from prostitution for as long as he is in Thailand. In the meantime, she falls deeply in love with him, believing he will marry her and take her back to Texas.
When she becomes pregnant, he is horrified and deserts her.
The child's name is Lita. She is bullied for being the light-skinned illegitimate child of an American soldier. Suffering hardship and poverty, she is determined to overcome obstacles in the search for her father.