A group of New Yorkers meet in a spacious apartment off Central Park West to discuss the welfare of Paulus Kenop, an Indonesian arrested for raising a separatist flag outside a government building in his country. None of the thirteen people present has ever met Kenop and probably never will. None shares his political beliefs, yet all are willing to do their best to free him.

These educated, affluent professionals form one of Amnesty International's most effective New York "adoption groups"–Group 26. They are all volunteers who meet once a month to work on particular cases involving political prisoners.