Living with his mother in a lower middle class neighborhood in Los Angeles, Alex is going to be the first person in his family to attend college. On the day of his college entrance interview, with a full ride scholarship at stake, Alex discovers that he is not an American citizen. Unknown to young Alex, he was never naturalized. He is, in reality, an illegal alien living unlawfully in the United States. After wrongly getting caught up in a drug bust, Alex is deported to Mexico. Flora Hendricks, on the other hand, is a white kid from a solid middle class family. She was born in the U.S.A. but right now that doesn’t matter too much to her. Flora is 17 and has serious entitlement issues. When she decides to run away from home and go on a road trip to the west coast with her new pals, she gets more than she could ever bargain for. When Flora is arrested for shoplifting, she gives the name of a friend living illegally in the U.S. as her own. She is deported to Mexico under the friend's name. Once on Mexican soil Alex and Flora find out quickly that they are way out of their depth. They learn quickly that Tijuana and most of the other border towns are ultra violent places that are overrun by dangerous, warring criminal factions.