Tycoon John Dexter spears a dolphin-like sea creature off San Blas in the Caribbean. It appears to be dead but, on shore, it comes to life and begins to make shrill, whistling sounds, which have a pattern and can be decoded.
The capture of a legendary, ancient monster in a Latin American lake obsesses a dilettante U.S. adventurer and the country's ego-maniacal military dictator. The adventurer wants glory and fame, the general craves the tourist influx. The amazing powers of the creature, the reverence of locals for it, and the ideals of both countries' scientists stand in the way of the power-crazed adversaries' schemes.—David Stevens