Thirteen-year-old Manny, a street kid fighting for survival in a Mexican border town, develops a strange friendship with an emotionally disturbed American soldier who decides to help him get across the border.

After having survived alone in the wilderness, Brian finds that he can no longer live in the city but must return to the place where he really belongs.

When twelve-year-old Tony, a talented artist, begins sketching the dancers at the Kitty Kat Club where his mother is an exotic dancer, it sparks the attention of social services.