Fifteen-year-old Victor Flores is faced with a tough reality when he realizes he is going to have to be the man of the family and try to cross from Mexico into the United States to save his mother, his brothers and his sisters from starvation and poverty. Unlike his friend, Rico, Victor doesn't have the $1,500.00 to give the "coyotes" to guide him across. Victor is going to have to face the heat, the lack of food and water, and being hunted, all by himself. But he can't stay in Mexico and do nothing, so he sets forth to "cross the wire."