Content Warning: The source text and this section of the guide discuss substance misuse and addiction, self-harm, and domestic violence.

Amadeo Padilla has been chosen to play Jesus in the Semana Santa (Holy Week) procession in his town of Las Penas, New Mexico. This is a serious responsibility, and he is preparing in earnest. After working on the construction of the cross that he will carry, he arrives home to find his daughter, Angel, waiting for him. At not quite 16 years old, she is heavily pregnant. Although she lives with her mother Marissa in nearby Española, the two have been fighting. Angel now wants to stay with her father and grandmother, Yolanda.

Angel does not seem old enough to be a parent. Amadeo recalls how young he and Marissa were when Angel was born, 18 and only 16 years old, respectively. Although they intended to marry, the two drifted apart. Marissa ended up raising Angel on her own, with some help from her own parents and Amadeo’s mother, Yolanda.

Every night during Lent, Amadeo and the other members of the local hermanadad (brotherhood) responsible for the Holy Week procession gather in their local Morada to pray and meditate on the Stations of the Cross.