- A pregnant Colombian teenager becomes a drug mule to make some desperately-needed money for her family.
- María Álvarez, an independent, feisty, underpaid 17-year-old Colombian rose-packager is stuck in a tedious life and a dead-end relationship with her good-for-nothing boyfriend Juan. Things get even worse when an unexpected pregnancy and an ugly altercation with her unfair boss tempt her to accept the risky offer to become a drug mule, smuggling drugs from And as if things weren't bad enough, an unexpected pregnancy and an ugly altercation with her unfair boss will tempt María to accept the risky offer to become a drug mule, transporting drugs from Bogotá to New York City. As things rapidly spiral out of control, the option of an early retirement and a peaceful future for María and her unborn baby begins to fade away. Is there a way out of this hopeless predicament?—Nick Riganas
- In a small village in Colombia, pregnant 17-year-old Maria supports her family with her salary working in floriculture. When she is fired, a total lack of prospects of finding a new job compels her to accept the offer to work as a drug mule, flying to the USA with 61 pellets of cocaine in her stomach. But things do not go as planned once she reaches New York City.—Stephen Bowen
- Seventeen-year-old Colombian girl Maria Alvarez (Catalina Sandino Moreno) works in sweat shop-like conditions at a flower plantation. Her income helps support her family, including her mother, her grandmother and an unemployed sister Diana (Johanna Andrea Mora) who is a single mother. Maria resents that she has to give up all the money she has, but Diana doesn't have to part with any of her money. Maria has to work really hard. She takes a bus to the plantation early in the morning and works with hundreds of other women. When Maria discovers she is pregnant by her boyfriend Juan (Wilson Guerrero), he proposes to her, but she declines because she does not feel she loves him. Plus, Juan stays with 10 other people in the house, and shares a room with his brother. He refuses to stay in Maria's house.
Maria has a tough boss at work, who would not even allow her to take bathroom breaks. Once, she vomits (morning sickness) over her roses, and the boss makes her clean the roses and then makes her work extra for the lost time.
After this incident, Maria quits her job removing thorns from roses despite her family's vehement disapproval. At a party with her co-worker Blanca, Maria meets Blanca's boyfriend Felipe (Charles Albert Patino), who introduces them to Franklin (John Alex Toro).
On her way to Bogota to find a new job, Franklin picks her up at the bus station and offers her a lift on his bike. He learns that Maria was going to Bogota to work as a maid for a rich couple. Franklin offers her a position as a drug mule. Desperate, she accepts the risky offer. Franklin promises to take care of all the paperwork for her travel. Franklin introduces Maria to Javier (Jaime Osorio Gomez), the mob boss who employs the mules to transport drugs into the USA. Maria will get paid $100 per roll minus expenses for passport and visa. She will clear 7-8 million pesos per trip.
Maria trains with Lucy, an experienced mule, to swallow pellets, by practicing on black, seedless grapes. Lucy tells Maria that she cannot eat anything 24 hours before the flight as she would need space in her stomach for the pellets. Lucy has made 2 trips already. Eventually, Maria finds out that Blanca has also signed up as a mule. Maria is taken to a secure location where she is made to swallow 62 wrapped pellets of cocaine. It is a slow process and Javier has to adjust Maria's stomach and adjust the pellets to make room for more. Maria flies to New York City with her friend Blanca. Maria finds that Lucy is on the same flight. Many mules are sent on the same flight, as if one gets caught, it is easier for the others to get through. Maria visits the toilet on the plane and passes 2 pellets which she has to swallow again. Javier had given Maria the hotel address, and her story was to pose as a tourist. But Maria loses the hotel address and takes Lucy's sisters address and her back story for cover, that she is in the states to visit her sister.
Maria is almost caught by U.S. customs who are suspicious of finding Maria's $800 in cash and wanting to make a surprise visit to a sister she "hasn't seen in years," (and who doesn't know that she is coming) but not knowing anywhere else to go if she isn't home. The customs authorities conduct a urine analysis and find that Maria is pregnant. Maria avoids being X-Rayed due to her pregnancy, and the customs ultimately believe the story that the father of her child paid for her plane ticket.
The traffickers collect Maria, Blanca (Yenny Paola Vega) and Lucy (Guilied Lopez), another more experienced mule that Maria had befriended during her recruitment. The mules are held hostage in a motel room until they pass all the drug pellets. Lucy falls ill when a drug pellet apparently ruptures inside her. María witnesses the traffickers carrying Lucy out of the hotel room and sees a blood-stained bathtub, coming to the conclusion that the traffickers cut her open to retrieve the other drug pellets inside her body. Scared, Maria convinces Blanca to escape with her when the traffickers leave to dump Lucy's body. They abscond with the drugs they have passed.
Maria has nowhere to sleep and goes to Lucy's sister Carla's (Patricia Rae) house but doesn't reveal to the sister that Lucy is dead. Blanca soon joins her there. Lucy's sister takes Maria and Blanca to a local Columbian Don Fernando (Orlando Tobon) so that he can help them find an apartment and a job. When Carla leaves, Blanca tries to offload the drugs in exchange for cash. The Don is sympathetic to their plight when he hears that Lucy might have been killed. He decides to contact the police to bring the gang to the notice of the police and says that the girls will have to return the drugs before they can hurt Maria's and Blanca's family in Columbia.
Maria has some free time before returning to Carla and get an ultrasound done for her baby and gets lunch. Carla tells Maria that she came to the US many years ago and stayed because of her baby. There are more opportunities in US to make a life. Eventually Carla unexpectedly hears of their involvement in her sister's death and throws them out. Blanca and María make an agreement to return the drugs to the traffickers and receive their money. Maria uses some of her drug money ($2500) to send Lucy's body home to Colombia for a proper burial. Maria and Blanca are ready to board the plane back to Colombia when Maria decides to stay in the United States, Blanca returns home alone.
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