Fortunate Son

The truth will set you free - if it doesn’t get you killed.

Barely 21, NATHAN FRASIER has the kind of fiery idealism that emboldens environmental activism but precludes enjoyment of the little things that make life worth living . Mom Lynn knows this and that he’s never stopped feeling unworthy because his dad abandoned them. Succumbing to her long, costly battle with cancer, Nathan’s mom begs him to put his past to rest and start living a lighter, fuller life, but then she's killed in what seems a burglary gone wrong.

Re-booting his life is unlikely with their house in foreclosure, but then colorful Colombian attorney FERNANDO HERRERA arrives with stunning news from Colombia, South America: the same father who disappeared 12 years before, pilot ALAN FRASIER, has left Nathan a half million dollar trust. The rub? Nathan has to settle the estate - in tropical Cartagena. When his mother's murderer is found dead of an overdose, Nathan heads to Colombia to honor his mother's wishes. In Cartagena, he's soon surviving a run-in with muggers and diving into his father’s history.

With lovely interpreter ESPERANZA VASQUEZ, Nathan learns not only that Alan was found dead - headless - in his crashed plane 11 years before, but also that he had been flying for two notorious drug lords, the brothers Mendoza: one six feet under, the other underground. Bad news turns to worse when someone sends Nathan a threatening note: “Leave Colombia now or Reynaldo Mendoza will kill you.”

Thinking the warning is only from a skittish old friend of his dad’s and that Mendoza has been in hiding for years, Nathan stays in order to get to the bottom of his father’s death. Esperanza sticks by him, risking everything to find Mendoza because the bastard killed her father - but there’s a lot she’s not telling. On his own Nathan finds out that any warning involving Mendoza is deadly serious.

Details they discover add to the puzzle: Alan was hoping to retire, but then he stole millions from the Mendozas. Nathan finds clues suggesting Alan had adopted a boy. In fact, this boy was on Alan’s airborne plane when Alan threw the older Mendoza to his death and took tons of cash.

Then TWO FLUNKIES try to kidnap Nathan. He manages to get free and confront Charley for setting the abduction up. Charley cops to sending the threatening note and to Alan’s talking of a boy - but before he can elaborate, someone interrupts and Nathan is scared off.

Fed up, Nathan orders attorney Herrera to settle the estate ASAP, but Herrera sees that Nathan’s obsessed with the boy and offers to locate an adoption lawyer that Alan knew - and he lends Nathan his bodyguard.

Nathan tells Esperanza of his obsession with the boy; she shares the horrific details of her dad’s murder - but not her secret about the boy. Vulnerable unveiling almost prompts a kiss but an interruption reignites Nathan's sense of unworthiness.

When Charley’s found murdered, Nathan - who threatened him - is arrested. He has an alibi, but it doesn’t save him from getting shit-kicked and stripped half-naked by a gang of inmates.

Released, Nathan is accosted by a masked gunman who tells him to leave Colombia, but Nathan unmasks him: it’s his father, Alan Frasier! Alan bolts, Nathan pursues, and the bodyguard, arriving late, chases them - but Alan escapes. Nathan is hell-bent on finding him.

He stakes out a mission that Alan supposedly entered - only to spot Flunky One, his would-be abductor. Hold up: if the mission is a front for Mendoza, wouldn’t that be the last place Alan entered? Herrera advises Nathan to let the bodyguard check it out.

When Nathan brings Esperanza up to speed about Alan, she clues him in about the boy: he was not an adopted son, but her twin brother. Alan saved him when he killed the older Mendoza - only for the younger Mendoza to kill the boy later. Recently, Esperanza heard Mendoza was again seeking Alan, so she kept tabs on Nathan in the hope that the son would somehow lead her to the reclusive drug lord. Feeling betrayed, Nathan sends Esperanza away but soon realizes his mistake and seeks her out. The two, bound by their similar histories, reunite to find comfort in each other's arms.

The next day Alan connives to again beg Nathan to flee Mendoza’s turf - but bolts when Herrera shows up. After seeing Herrera for the first time herself, Esperanza takes Nathan off to confirm her hunch: “Herrera” is in fact the made-over Reynaldo Mendoza.

On all sides - Gloves. Come. Off. Nathan makes plans with the DEA to take down Mendoza, then takes Esperanza back to the mission to look for Alan; instead Nathan finds Flunky Two, with a grudge. Flunky Two knocks Nathan out and takes him to a compound in the mountains. Esperanza alerts the DEA, only to get nabbed herself by Mendoza, who prepares to meet up with Nathan: the son will lure the father, Mendoza will avenge his brother’s death at last.

The mountain compound turns out to be not Mendoza's, but Alan’s! After so much torment, Nathan attacks his father, only to later see evidence of Alan's humanitarian work funded by the stolen Cartel money - and of his father’s enduring love for wife and son.

Soon Alan himself tells Nathan: the boy on the plane reminded Alan of Nathan; after his knee-jerk rescue, the only way to save his family was to fake his death and stay hidden - surfacing only to set up Nathan’s trust, which Mendoza hijacked. Lastly, Alan reveals that he got work with Mendoza in the first place only so he could afford the treatment that prolonged the life of Nathan’s mother Lynn. Once in the Cartel, however, he was trapped - his family held as unwitting hostages. Truth sets Nathan free: at long last, he finds bittersweet closure with his dad.

But Mendoza and his goons arrive. Fleeing, Alan and Nathan find and free Esperanza, together to outwit the goons and - DEA closing in - get to a plane. Mendoza appears and reveals that, yes, he had Lynn Frasier killed (and then he himself killed her assassin!). He sends Esperanza packing, and forces Alan and Nathan to fly him away. They almost turn the tables on him, when Mendoza parachutes out, almost taking Nathan with him. But Alan saves Nathan, then helps him fire flares at Mendoza. Mendoza flames - but goes down shooting, and Alan gets gut-shot. Amazingly, he lands the plane. Finding peace with his son, Alan dies in Nathan’s arms.

Back home with Esperanza, Nathan scatters his father’s ashes with his mother’s. He’s found a way to live his life fully now. He has the scars to prove it.