Plot Summary

After his daughter's birth, Roberto leaves his town in Michoacan to make money in the United States. He's "an illegal," crossing into California and taking work wherever he can: picking strawberries, grapes, lettuce, and cucumbers. He hitchhikes, rides freight trains, and depends on the kindness of strangers. Near Stockton, things look up when a sympathetic waitress gives him a place to live, and he gets a better job at a crop-dusting company. But immigration raids are a constant possibility that can end stability. Can Roberto hold onto his equilibrium in this foreign land where hard work is not enough?