Deep in the heart of the jungles of Ecuador, along the Amazon River basin, the Waodani Indians are murdering each other to the point of near-extinction. Tribal conflicts (internal and external) have led to a staggering 60 percent mortality rate, and the average Waodani male lives to be just over 30 years old. In response, the Ecuadorian government plans to send in troops to stop the killings and "reclaim" the land, essentially wiping out the Waodani.

It’s the early 1950s and Nate Saint, along with four other young American Christian missionaries, sense the urgency of this crisis and set out to befriend the Waodani people.

Nate establishes contact with the remote tribe using a revolutionary aeronautical technique that he invents.

Flying his small yellow craft in a tight circular pattern, he dangles a bucket on a rope (which centers itself due to centrifugal force), using it to lower gifts.

Then, on Jan. 3, 1956, after weeks of what seems to be a progressing relationship (the Waodani have begun to place gifts of their own in the bucket), Nate and his friends, Jim Elliot, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming and Ed McCully, land the plane on a sandbar and make face-to-face contact with the Waodani.

Five days later, their speared and hacked bodies lay in the Curaray River.

The story doesn’t end there, though. Narrated by Nate’s son, Steve, End of the Spear dramatically shows how that tragic day forever changes the lives of both the missionary families and the Waodani in a remarkable testimony of God’s redemptive power.