Detailed essays, extensive photos, and informative sidebars describe the search for El Dorado throughout history and examine the ancient Chavin, Moche, Paracas, and Nazca cultures of South America, showing the results of significant archaeological digs; also includes a time line and a bibliography.

A band of Spanish conquistadors, led by Pizarro, go up the Amazon in search of gold. As the soldiers battle starvation, Indians, the forces of nature and each other, Don Lope de Aguirre (the self-styled "Wrath of God") is consumed by visions of conquering all of South America and leads a revolt, but Aguirre's megalomania turns the expedition into a death trip.