AllMovie

A popular West Coast poet reconnects with his ailing father and falls into a dangerous spiral of self-destruction in this drama from Ulee's Gold director Victor Nuñez. When Cruz Montana (Kuno Becker) takes the stage to recite his poetry, the whole West Coast hangs on his every word. A gifted artist who always speaks from the heart, Cruz is touring the poetry circuit when he learns that his father, Senior (Rubén Blades), is dying. Concerned, Cruz races back home to the scenic mountain valley where he grew up to find that drugs and violence have taken a terrible toll on the once-peaceful community. In no time, Cruz is back working for local criminal kingpin Emilio (Miguel Sandoval), the ruthless club owner who used to be Senior's number one partner in crime. In Emilio's world, money comes easy, and beautiful girls are always close by. Now, the longer Cruz remains at home the more his poetry skills begin to deteriorate, and the further he begins to drift from the values he once lived by. Perhaps if Cruz can find a way to reclaim his identity and pull himself back from the brink, the seeds of healing will finally be sewn both within his family and in his troubled community as well.