We Are Not from Here

When WE ARE NOT FROM HERE begins, teens Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña are living in a Guatemalan town consumed by violence. Fifteen-year-old Pulga dreams of becoming a musician like his father and is already planning what he calls his "escape." The shy and still grief-stricken Chico had come to live with Pulga's family after the murder of his mother, who was shot down in the street when he was 11. Seventeen-year-old Pequeña is pregnant by a man she despises. Rey is a gang member who had "chosen" her and used barely disguised threats to force her into having sex with him. After Pulga and Chico witness the murder of a beloved local shopkeeper by Rey's gang, they know reporting what they saw will mean certain death. They decide to keep silent, but to their horror, they find that silence means they are now expected to become part of the gang. After Pequeña gives birth to a son, Rey informs her that she'll become his wife, something she vows will never happen. The three decide they have no choice but to flee, leaving their families and Pequeña's baby behind. But their journey is more terrifying than they could have imagined. Days without food, hiding from kidnappers, walking for untold miles, sometimes across the desert. And then there are the trains that will hopefully take them to the U.S. border. They have to run fast enough to grab onto the train and swing themselves on before climbing up to the train's roof. There they'll join men, women, and children all clinging on for their very lives.