One day, María's father takes her to the busy market. There they trade goods for food for Mana's mother and baby brother. María helps by making her father laugh while he works. But she wants to do more. So Mana finds a very special way to help her family.

After the police come, a family is forced to flee their Caribbean island and set sail for America in a small fishing boat.

The award-winning author of "Touching Spirit Bear" delivers a fast-paced adventure of a Guatemalan boy who, along with his little sister, makes an escape to America in a heart-pounding voyage in a dangerously small kayak.