Nayeli
Nayeli is a teenage girl who decides that her town is no longer safe. All the men of Tres Camarones have left to America to find better paying jobs, but now they are vulnerable to cartel takeover. Nayeli decides to travel illegally, into America so she can recruit men to defend the town.
Tacho
Tacho comes with Nayeli, and when they illegally cross, they get caught by the United States Border Patrol. Tacho says something benign about a restaurant back home, but the officers think he said "Al-Qaeda," so he gets arrested. After he is released, he celebrates back in Tijuana at a gay bar where he meets a man who later reunites him to Nayeli.
Vampi
Vampi is a friend who comes along with Nayeli and Tacho, and she stays with Nayeli pretty much throughout the story, helping along the way. She falls in love with El Brujo and accidentally recruits him on Nayeli's quest, because he wants to be with her there. He agrees to defend Tres Camarones.
Mary Jo
Mary Jo is a helpful person who Nayeli meets in Illinois, in a public library. Nayeli realizes that her father has abandoned the family, because when she gets to his house, she discovers he lives with a new wife and child. Then Mary Jo reaches back out again. Not only does Mary Jo help her find her father, she helps her to find a way back to San Diego, and eventually back home. Mary Jo is known around the neighborhood for helping people this way.
Atomiko
Another helper on Nayeli's quest is Atomiko. Atomiko is the self-proclaimed "King of the Dump." She meets him by being humble enough to stay with an old couple who lives in the garbage dump. There she meets this guy who helps her find safe passage into America, twice.
Chavarin
Once in America, there's one specific man who Nayeli wants to contact. It takes a few days but eventually, they meet and she tells Chavarin that he simply must return, because the town is being taken over soon by bandits. He agrees and summons the other townspeople and anyone who wants to return to Mexico. 27 men return to Mexico to defend the town.
Wili
This coyote is a kind soul, too. They hire him to get Nayeli's party safely into America, but when they get deported and returned to Tijuana, he agrees to help them again, to do what it takes. He helps them find an illegal border tunnel where they simply walk into a building in Tijuana, into the basement, into a secret tunnel, through the tunnel into America, and up into another small business, but in America.
