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The day before Christmas, everyone in Jose's neighborhood seems grumpy, including his mother who is homesick for Puerto Rico, but when he and his parents return from the pizzeria where they borrowed an oven to cook their roast, the heavenly aroma reminds those they pass of all they have to celebrate.

After a fight at school leaves Marcus facing suspension, Marcus's mother takes him and his younger brother, who has Down syndrome, to Puerto Rico to visit relatives they do not remember or have never met, and while there Marcus starts searching for his father, who left their family ten years ago and is somewhere on the island.

"Marcus Vega mide seis pies de altura, pesa 180 libras y luce un incipiente bigote. Cuando tienes esta apariencia y apenas estás en octavo grado, te conviertes en una figura imponente y, al mismo tiempo, en un blanco fácil. Después de un altercado en la escuela que resulta en una suspensión para Marcus, su madre decide que es hora de un cambio de ambiente. Los lleva a él y a su hermano menor a Puerto Rico para pasar una semana con parientes a...