Eighteen-year-old José serves as the bridge between his non-English speaking family and the rest of the world, and because his parents are illegal immigrants and extended family lives with them, money is tight so José works nights and arrives at school so tired that teachers at his alternative high school step in to help.

After spending time in a juvenile detention center for a crime related to severe anger issues, seventeen-year-old Jada Robinson is sent to a foster home and enrolled in an alternative high school, and begins to move past her old life.