This film traces the unbelievable true story of the Calderón family, who built grand movie palaces in Mexico and the U.S., employing thousands to produce incomparable, hugely successful, and often reprehensible populist-genre films that were utterly and uniquely Mexican.
Two teenagers fall in love with each other for the first time.
A group of workers crossing the river is ambushed by rogue INS agents who intend to kill them all and plant drug on the corpse as evidence of cartel activity. One escapes, and he commits himself to helping a District Attorney collect evidence on the politicians and industrialists those agents work for.
Young Raúl looks for his ex-girlfriend Alicia to resume their relationship, but she responds that she doesn't love him anymore. The young woman lives with her godfather Marcial in a hotel he owns.
Singer Cornelio Reyna returns to Guadalajara to propose marriage to his childhood sweetheart Silvia. This depresses one of Silvia's suitors, who will soon unleash a series of misfortunes.
Papa hires a "boyfriend" to indulge her in her fantasies of old-fashioned romance.