When United States Air Force Captain Oley Washington's fighter jet is shot down over Vietnam and he is captured by the enemy, life seems to be over. But Captain Oley is a resourceful young man, and he orchestrates a successful prison-camp break. He is expected to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving the lives of his fellow POWs.

Flying high before the ceremony, Captain Oley walks into a group of war protesters who beat him senseless and leave him for dead. He wakes up with no idea who he is or where he is from. All he has are these strange green pellets that mysteriously turn into gasoline. Where did they come from? Who gave them to him?

Suffering from a severe case of amnesia, Oley becomes a homeless vagabond, living in an abandoned bank where he stores his gasoline pellets inside a rusted safe. For the most part, he keeps to himself. But when people are kind to him, he thanks them by handing them some of his mysterious pellets.

Thinking they are dirty green jellybeans, most people throw the pellets out after receiving them. But strange things happen when they do. Large puddles of gasoline form where the pellets land, and the connection is eventually made. Who is this homeless man, and where does he get these magic pellets? Finding the answers to these questions will help solve another mystery that involves a coverup of monumental proportions.