Claire has always loved her son Jim and her granddaughter Sydney, but struggles to connect with her daughter-in-law, Allison. When Allison announces a big job promotion that will relocate them far away, Claire's motherly instincts are pushed to an unsettling level where she will scheme, lie and even murder to keep her son and granddaughter from moving away.

In 1986 LA, an illegal immigrant (Elpidia Carrillo) suffers from past tortures in her native El Salvador. Her husband had been killed and her two children taken from her. She was an educated teacher with a philosophy degree, but now is forced to take only the most menial tasks and lives in a roach-infested dwelling. This fragile woman is turned over to a case worker (Barbara Williams), who is recently divorced and is struggling as a single mother to her young son. These two very different women make contact and the therapist decides to help the Latin American find her children. Inquiries leads to the children being in Mexico and with a high enough fee, they can be smuggled into the US.