Santa Fe Film Festival 2008

Santa Fe, New Mexico. A well-to-do rancher, in town for supplies as well as a day laborer, picks up a young Mexican illegal immigrant for some work on his ranch. Enroute, after a brief stop for coffee for himself, the rancher picks up a hitchhiker, offering him a ride in the back of the pickup. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed, blue collar worker, recently unemployed due to his employers' replacing him and several others with less expensive labor, immediately displays his dislike and disdain for the situation, and the young immigrant. When the truck has mechanical problems, the rancher is forced to pull off the highway, near the road to his ranch. Leaving the hitchhiker to 'watch his stuff', the two men find themselves alone. Seizing the opportunity, the hitchhiker begins his diatribe against the immigrant. Angry, at times appearing on the brink of violence, the man essentially accuses the Mexican of most of the ills associated with the immigration problems facing the US. However, when the threat of violence subsides, the young Mexican takes up his cause, passionately defending both his motivations for being there as well as his right to pursue a better life for himself as well as his family back in Mexico. Unable to counter many of the arguments, the hitchhiker slowly finds himself trying to understand some of the immigrants' points, searching desperately for perhaps another target for his anger and frustration. In the end, there is no one right answer, yet perhaps a sign of hope?