Conchita (12) observes how the coffee dealers cheat and defame the farmers. A nightmare about soldiers attacking the village spooks in her head. Afterwards, she asks clever questions. The farmers chip in their meager savings for her commercial education in town to become their spokesman.
Now the dealer scoffs and threatens Conchita (18). She follows the beans and sees them disappear into the black bottomless hold of a freighter. Unable to go back emptyhanded, she hops on board as a stowaway.
In Jacksonville she disembarks with the indigenous cook. Her boyfriend sends her grant for school. At the bus station in New York, a pickpocket robs it. A woman Salvation Army soldier notices and lodges her, pretending help.
She visits the lush New York Coffee exchange carrying the red laundry bag with coffee beans, she took at the freighter and is thrown out as a suspect subject. In a heated discussion with a lecturer, Conchita learns about Direct Trade.
The lecturer sends her to an acquaintance at the EU headquarters. He dismisses her. A lobbyist ends up being blackmailed to send her to a Fair Trade organization in Copenhagen, a dead end.
There, she takes a job in a trendy café, who do Direct Trade with a village near hers. Jens, the consultant accompanies her back home.
Back home, the villagers are furious about her dropping school. The plantation droops caused by erosion. Jens invests in materials so the villagers can build an irrigation system.
Conchita has earlier sent beans to a global tasting competition. They are close to the finals. She manages to beguile her worst enemy, the local dealer, to promote the beans in the competition. They win, can set their own price, and celebrate with a traditional Mayan feast.