Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.

During his college years, the very family solidarity that allows Francisco to survive as a child is tested. Not only must he leave his family when he goes to Santa Clara University, but while Francisco is there, his father abandons the family and returns to Mexico.