Told from the perspective of Nick, an innocent surfer from Canada, Escobar: Paradise Lost unfolds during the final years of Escobar's reign. Nick and his brother Dylan set up a modest surfing retreat near Medellin, where Nick meets the woman of his dreams, Maria, who is busy campaigning for her politician uncle. That uncle turns out to be Pablo, who invites Nick to a party at his "cottage," a sprawling, Xanadu-like jungle fortress. When he hears of the trouble Nick and Dylan are having with some local thugs, Pablo vows to "take care of it." The thugs turn up dead, and suddenly Nick finds himself immersed in a world of wild extravagance, corruption and bloodshed — one he will find nearly impossible to escape.