The owner and three passengers of The Volkswagen Van first meet in Amsterdam in front of the American Express office in the summer of 1972. They share an unquenchable thirst for adventure and on a whim, agree to travel fourteen thousand miles going overland on the hippie trail to India. Tony Toscano, a sociopath and owner of the van, is determined at all costs to smuggle drugs from Afghanistan and never tells the other riders of his intentions. Like many others of that day, the young passengers, Murray Delanie, Aeril Weinstein, and her French boyfriend, Pierre Bonnaire, are all very naive to the customs of Asia and face unpredictable circumstances that will endanger themselves and change their lives forever. Not only do drugs play a major role in what happens to them, but the sex trade of Asia threatens Aerial's very existence.