With no family in Central America, the child sets out on a 2,100-mile journey north to the United States in search of her American father.
Chica spends her 7th birthday in the Chihuahuan garbage dump. Then the ruthless Cartel thug, Maestro, gives her a ride north and incorporates the child into his criminal enterprises of bank robbery, gun-running, and drug dealing.
Discovering that his Salvadorian girlfriend was gunned down and his daughter missing, Amil Anglican employs the help of his wealthy and politically connected mother to locate his daughter.
But virtually no one knows that Chica has a twin sister, Malagueña, who is being exploited as a child laborer in Juarez and desires to be reunited with her only known relative.