| Director | Bruce Robinson |
|---|---|
| Budget | $45 million |
| Box office | $30.1 million |
Paul Kemp is an author who has not been able to sell a book. He gets a job at a newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There, he meets staff photographer Sala, who gets him acclimated and tells him he thinks the newspaper will fold soon. Kemp checks into a hotel, and while idling about on a boat in the sea, meets Chenault, who is skinny-dipping while avoiding a Union Carbide party. Kemp is immediately smitten with her.
Kemp and Sala immediately go on a drinking binge, which earns Kemp the enmity of his editor, E. J. Lotterman. Kemp also meets Moburg, a deadbeat reporter who cannot be fired. While waiting for an interview, Kemp meets Hal Sanderson, a PR consultant flaunting a luxurious lifestyle, who offers him a side job writing public relations material for his latest venture. Sanderson is engaged to Chenault, who pretends not to know Kemp.
Later, Kemp moves in with Sala, who also rooms with Moburg. Kemp begins to see the poverty of San Juan, but Lotterman does not want him to write about it, as it would be bad for tourism. Moburg returns with leftover filters from a rum plant; they contain high-proof alcohol. Moburg has been fired, and rants about killing Lotterman.
Kemp visits Sanderson and spies on him having sex with Chenault in the sea. He meets Zimburger and Segurra, who are working with Sanderson on his venture. Later, an inebriated Sala berates a restaurant owner for refusing them service; Kemp senses the owner's hostility, so Sala and he make a hasty retreat, pursued by angry locals. The police arrive, break up the fight, and then throw Sala and Kemp in jail. Sanderson bails them out.
The next day, Kemp meets with Sanderson's partners, who introduce him to the venture. The plan is to build a resort on a "pristine" island off the coast of Puerto Rico. Later Kemp is asked to pick up Chenault from her house. They share a moment, but Kemp resists temptation.
Zimburger takes Kemp and Sala to see the island, part of which is still used as an artillery range by the US military. Then they head to St. Thomas for Carnival. Kemp finds Chenault, and they wind up on Sanderson's boat. Sanderson berates Kemp for involving Sala in the deal. At night, they go to a club, and a drunk Chenault dances with local men to provoke Sanderson, with whom she has been fighting. When Sanderson tries to intervene, he is forcefully removed from the dance floor by locals and led out of the club by Kemp and Sala for his own safety. Chenault stays behind at the club.
The next day, Chenault is gone, and Sanderson tells Kemp that their business arrangement is over. When Sala and Kemp return home, Moburg tells them that Lotterman has left and that the paper will go out of business. He also sells them hallucinogens, which they take. Kemp has an epiphany while under the influence, and resolves to write an exposé on Sanderson's shady deals.
Lotterman returns, but will not publish Kemp's story. Chenault shows up at Kemp's place after Sanderson disowns her. Out of spite, Sanderson withdraws his bail, indicating that Kemp and Sala are now wanted by the police. Moburg also tells them that Lotterman has closed the paper. Kemp decides to print a last issue, telling the truth about Lotterman and Sanderson as well as the stories Lotterman declined.
To make money to print the last edition, Kemp, Sala, and Moburg place a big cockfighting bet. They visit Papa Nebo, Moburg's intersex witch doctor, to lay a blessing on Sala's prize cockerel. They win but return to the office to find that the printing presses have been confiscated.
Kemp continues his quest, leaving Puerto Rico on a sailboat. The end credits explain that Kemp makes it back to New York, marries Chenault, and becomes a successful journalist, finally finding his voice as a writer.