Carlos de Lorenzo is an ordinary boy from a poor, hard-working family in an unremarkable Mexican town. Not as academic as his younger brother, perhaps, and with a tendency to get into trouble, but a normal boy who loved his mother. Carlos' father, seeing his son unable to pass his exams or get a job, eventually offers him the money to set up in business. Carlos may not have qualifications but he has ideas and business sense and to everyone's surprise makes a go of it. But a successful food kiosk in that part of town was always going to attract the wrong sort of attention and Carlos soon has to confront the most notorious gang in the country. Gradually drawn into a world of guns, drugs and intrigue, Carlos finds himself enjoying the money and the power. But before long he is out of his depth and has put his whole family in the greatest peril. Ex-gangsters, corrupt police and ministers at the highest level in cross and double-cross lead Carlos to the edge, and his mother has to make the hardest decision of her life.