Joel Jefferson and Jesus Barbosa are American NBA hopefuls who were cut from the league and find themselves playing professionally for a small-time club in northern Argentina in 1982. Their new home, San Miguel de Tucuman, is a sports crazed town full of colorful characters, where they become known as "El Negro," a black man who can fly and "Cubano," a magician with a basketball. Joel and Jesus are joined by a freelance writer from Washington, D.C., who is first drawn to the town because of its importance in the country's "Dirty War" but then becomes swept up in their basketball adventure as games take them to the Andes Mountains and beyond.