Newly-minted spy Julio Antonio del Marmol, in his first daring act as a spy, steals the briefcase of Ernesto "Che" Guevara right out of the provincial military headquarters in Pinar del Rio, Cuba. What he uncovers in that treasure trove of information are the notes and partly-outlined plans that Guevara has to expand the communist foothold just gained in the Western Hemisphere by the revolution's victory in Cuba. Impressed by the young man's intelligence, maturity, and eloquence, Che decides that he wants Julio Antonio by his side as a personal protegee. The paranoid Guevara is a dangerous man to come near to, as right in front of the twelve-year-old spy Che summarily executes his best friend, just on a paranoid suspicion that the dead man was connected with an assassination plot Julio Antonio narrowly thwarted, saving Che's life in the process. Taken by Che to a training camp, Julio Antonio uncovers the first thread in a plot to assassinate a U.S. President.