Five Wishes

Maria Elena wants to study and learn, and escape her Honduran life in the povertry-stricken barrio. She opposes her parent’s traditional upbringing who believe that girls have to do household chores and serve the males in their lives. Her mother, fed up with Maria Elena’s attitude, throws her out of the house at age fifteen.
Maria Elena survives living in the streets with the help of a benefactor, though does not remain completely unharmed. She takes on jobs and saves every penny for her escape to the U.S. Her best friend, Lolita, has connections, and sees a scrupulous drug dealer and human trafficker, named Tío, as her savior. For a large sum of money, he gets both of them onto a boat to L.A., promising jobs and a good future.
Maria Elena’s instincts tell her not to trust Tío, but nonetheless, upon her high school graduation, she and Lolita pay for the trip. On the boat, she learns what will await her – a period of service, as Lolita puts it, filling men’s desires.
Maria Elena manages to escape, only to find herself in a foreign country without papers - hungry, scared and alone.