Eddie Corazón, a 16-year-old juvenile delinquent and secret reader, attends an alternative high school in Rosablanca, New Mexico. A former straight-A student, Eddie now walks the thin line between tragedy and glory as he searches for his place in the world. A long-time friend, T.J. Ritchie, pushes him to deal drugs. An unorthodox teacher encourages him to develop his intellect. By chance, Eddie enrolls in a ballroom dance class where he meets college-bound beauty Lupe García and is struck down by love. Desperate to impress Lupe, he even tries his hand at poetry. To his surprise, Eddie discovers that he has a natural gift.
Then Eddie makes some bad choices and is sent to live with his bachelor uncle, Tío Antonio, in Truth or Consequences. He takes off his bandana, tucks in his shirt, and starts calling himself Eduardo. His exposure to Tíos interests and way of life shatters all his masculine stereotypes and inspires him to view the world and himself in a new light. Pulled in opposite directions by T.J. and Lupe, Eddie finally realizes that his own life is, indeed, up to him.
