Julio, a bright ten-year-old boy, is the only survivor of his family when the flood of the century killed about five thousand people on Saturday, December 7, 1941, at the northern part of Huaras, Ancash, Peru. His cousin, Esperanza, takes charge of him. Together they go to Lima and suffer hardships to earn their secondary diplomas in order to enter the United States of America as immigrants and become worthy, naturalized citizens.