In 1967 San Bernardino, the Rivera family is on the verge of upheaval. Fidel, the family patriarch, is discovering that his normally docile wife, Soledad, is no longer content to share him with his mistress. Soledad, fed up with double standards, is determined to stand up for her rights and insists on a change.

Meanwhile, their eldest son, Bert, is on his way to fight in Vietnam, leaving behind his pregnant wife, and their precious younger son, Gaby, is being enticed into the glamorous and violent world of gangs. When Soledad falls in love with the sergeant who has recruited Bert, she exacts from him a promise that will permanently change the way the Rivera family think and feel about each other.