After earlier films by Chick Strand about Anselmo, we continue to follow the Mexican street musician and his lifelong struggle to provide a good life for his children. This film focuses on his relationship with his wife Adela and his mistress Cruz, and theirs with him. In a society where traditional gender roles are separated and sharply defined, the number of children defines male identity and keeps women dependent and homebound. Poverty makes daily survival a desperate struggle. Both men and women must cooperate: men provide food and shelter, and women caringly raise a large family. However, cooperation is often superficial, with very little communication in terms of inner emotional needs. Relationships become economic in essence, thus perceiving both men and women as living in an emotional desert. The film is about lives in conflict from three points of view, as told by the people involved. It explores the division between the real and the ideal. (Chick Strand)
