A widowed mother and her eight children struggle to survive in the poorest barrio in South El Paso, Texas. Juanita Lopez is an insightful, loving mother with a plan. Her plan for success is simple. Her children must work hard and she must guide them through adversities and make them retain their moral and ethical values. Through the eyes of Mundo Lopez, the youngest son in the Lopez family, the story introduces us to the five Lopez Brothers and the three Lopez sisters coming of age in the years before World War II through the end of the Korean War.