As he prepares to recite the Declaration of Independence before his eighth grade social studies class in California, the thing Francisco has feared for ten years finally happens. La migra, the immigration police, come to his classroom and pick him up for deportation to Mexico. Soon back in the United States with a 'green card,' Francisco struggles through adolescence, working two or three jobs a day and striving to excel at school. But he also finds time to be a typical teenager in the 1950s, an era of cool cars, dances, and Elvis.