Mickey and his cousin Snake, two adventurous teenage boys from rural Virginia, experience the summer of a lifetime, when they accompany Mickey's dad, a wildlife photographer, to Zaire, as his hot air balloon crew, and to Belize where they meet Rudy Meyer, a marine biologist, who takes them on an unforgettable scuba dive to a sunken World War II U-boat.. From the jungles of Africa to the jungles of Belize, the two boys encounter situations that challenge their wits, courage, and imagination. Lingering rumors of gold on the German U-boat find the boys crossing paths with bungling, would-be thieves. Mickey and Snake must rely on their own resources to stay alive.