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. Esperanza Ortega has a wonderful life in Mexico until tragedy shatters her dream and forces her and her mother to flee to California and settle in a Mexican farm labor camp.

Francisco Jimenez chronicles the experiences he had after his family left Mexico for California when he was just a child.