This coming-of-age tale offers fragmented recollections of a life in which time and place have fleeting meaning: for the migrant farmworker, only memory provides roots. In 1952, Marcos (Jose Alcalá) is a bright and curious twelve-year-old, son of a loving Chicano family whose balance is dispersed by the constant need to follow the crops toward continued poverty, and whose anguish over a missing son in Korea is exacerbated by the devils and saints of their own superstitions. One year, the decision is made to leave Marcos behind with an uncle and aunt so that he can stay on in school. But the couple are not what they appear to be, and Marcos is left to face his own devils. Based on a landmark work of Chicano literature-the autobiographical novel by the late Tomás Rivera, who was chancellor of the University of California at Riverside when he died in 1984-the film's "strengths are its portrayal of a largely forgotten aspect of American history, and its touching revelation of the grace and strength with which the migrant laborers endured their lot. Perez also manages to capture some of the book's eccentric, at times surreal flavor." (Gary Kimaya, Examiner)