A beautiful small town in Mexico called Pueblo Nuevo, Guanajuato, where 15-year-old Samantha lives with both parents. Samantha's dad is employed as a taxi driver at a taxi stop and her mother works around the corner of their little pueblo selling food, while still trying to raise Samantha. Samantha’s parents aren’t very financially stable, the jobs they work don’t pay at a good rate. She notices that her parents are struggling to pay the bills in time along with the school payments. As days go by Samantha’s mother, Elizabeth, has been staying up every night worried that they won’t be able to provide for their child, worried that there won’t be enough money to keep a roof over their head, worried that they won’t be able to bring food to the table.

     As if things couldn’t get worse in January of 2017, their financial situation took a turn for the worst. Her father, Francisco, gets fired from his job. This really affected the family since he was the one bringing a bit more money to the house. Several weeks go by and Francisco can’t find a job. They are struggling even more now that he isn’t able to make money. After about a month of not being able to find a job, Francisco decides to sit down with his wife and they have a talk. While they are having their conversation Samantha passes by and eavesdrops half of the conversation. Hearing their conversation, she panics and feels confused; she doesn’t understand what’s going on. So many thoughts are going through her head at that moment. She quickly walked back to her room. A few moments later her parents walk into her room with a sad and worried look on their face. They calmly start explaining the current situation of where they stand financially and physically. Francisco begins to explain how it would be in the family’s best interest if he and Elizabeth crossed over to the other side, the United States. Elizabeth then proceeds to tell Samantha that she won’t be able to go with them. That she will be staying with her aunt instead. Samantha’s heart drops when she hears what her mother said. The fear of losing her parents became even bigger at that point.

     Four weeks go by and the day that Samantha has been dreading soon enough arrives. It’s time for her parents to leave. A very emotional Sunday morning for the whole family. Elizabeth and Francisco comfort Samantha with hugs while giving her a talk of how much they love her. They tell Samantha that they will be back soon, that this is all for everyone’s best and that they will have better chances on the other side. One last hug before they go. Samantha breaks down crying telling her parents not to leave. Crying, Elizabeth tells Samantha that she loves her and that she’ll always have a special place in her heart. They start to say their goodbyes. They leave.

     As month’s go by, Samantha is still staying in Mexico with her aunt. She thought things would be fine since she wasn’t alone, but yet again something had to go wrong. Her aunt’s health had been worsening day by day. Samantha reaches out to her parents and lets them know that her aunt is very ill. Elizabeth and Francisco decide to send them a bit more money, they give her the number of their family doctor, and tell her to call the doctor and to let him know that aunt is sick. A week later aunt Mary sadly passes away. Samantha is devastated once again the death of her aunt made her realize that she is alone, again. She tries to reach her parents but they can’t be reached at that time. She doesn’t know what to do. A few days later she decides that she can’t stay at home any longer. She makes a plan.

     A quick and easy plan, or so she thought. She now dedicated her time to working to make money. She realized that if she wanted to make money, she had to quit school. So, she dropped out. Eventually she realized that with the money her parents had been sending her and the money she gathered from working, she had around 18,017 Mexican pesos. Samantha was now fully convinced that it would be in her best interest to cross to the other side. She tries to contact her parents once again and gets no answer.

     The day arrives, Samantha starts to pack some light clothes and other essentials in a small bag. She then walks to the bus stop. A two-hour almost three-hour bus ride to San Luis Potosi. When she arrives, she has no other option than to spend the night there. On the next day early in the morning she takes another bus to Tamaulipas, Mexico. While in Tamaulipas she struggles to get around places. It’s a high crime place and very dangerous especially for a 15-year-old. Two older men decided to take advantage of Samantha and attempt to rob her. But she was smarter than they were and was able to get out of that situation. About 4 weeks later she then meets up with the coyote that could be crossing her over to the other side. He was surprised when he saw her and how young she was. The coyote proceeds to explain how they will be crossing over the Rio Grande River. For the next few days Samantha is in a panic, scared of not making it over. She then goes on to meet up with the other people she would be crossing with. She takes a good look around at the people and decides to stick behind a couple. They all start to follow behind the coyote following his instructions. As soon as they hit the river, they immediately were on the lookout for any border control. The coyote announces that the water currents are highly dangerous at the moment. They start to cross over, following one behind another. Half way through the coyote starts to tell them to hurry up and not look behind. They all crossover. Except Samantha. She gets caught by two border patrol officers.

     A month later after failing the first time Samantha decides to attempt to cross over again with only half less of the money she had on her she decides to go for it again. On her way to the river once again border patrol stops them. Samantha is now in a desperate state. She doesn’t know what to do at this point. She has failed to cross over twice and feels as if it’s now impossible for her to cross over. Everything at this point for Samantha was not going as planned. More than half of her money was gone. She decides to stay a few months in Reynosa, Mexico where she meets a lovely family that gives her a place to stay while she decides on what to do. 5 months go by and Samantha decides that it is time to try again. During this whole process she had only spoken with her parents four times. A fifth call takes place thanks to a lovely lady that lets her borrow a cell phone. She expresses to her parents that she feels lost but not that she is planning on crossing over. Samantha asks if they are holding up right and they say yes. The call ends.

     Samantha is now ready to cross over, confidently she reaches the river. This time only a small group of five will be crossing along with her. Once they reach the river, they start to cross over, about half way through Samantha starts to get a small panic attack. She starts to look around. It's clear. No border patrols. A clear path. She crosses the border line. She finally is able to step foot on American soil. Once she reached the other side, she felt emotional. An adrenaline burst she feels. Her next step in the plan was to go find her parents. She starts by trying to reach out to them but she doesn’t get an answer. Samantha then remembers that they had sent her the address of where they were staying at. She decides to get in an uber to go see them. On her way there she stops by the store and buys them a small gift. Once she arrives before knocking on the door, she wipes her tears and hopes for the best. She knocks. No one answers. She knocks again. Holding her breath, she waits. Someone opens the door. A weak older woman opens the door, suddenly a man walks behind the woman. The couple were very ill. “Samantha eres tu mija”? says the sick woman. Samantha, in complete shock, doesn't recognize the couple for the first time. Who are they? And why do they look at Samantha as if they knew her. How does she know her name? Samantha takes a good look at them when she realizes who they are, in complete shock she speaks to them. Mama? Papa?