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.

When seventeen-year-old Frankie Skinaway's incarcerated father and cousins try to get him involved in the First Nations Mafia, even after his mother enrolls Frankie in an alternative high school to keep him safe, Frankie has a hard choice to make.