Lisette (Lauren Velez) and Chino Linares (Jon Seda) live in the Bronx with their three children and are barely scraping by. During a blackout, Chino gets arrested for stealing a stereo. In order to raise the bail money, Lisette lands a job as an assistant to a record executive (Griffin Dunne) who believes he knows everything about Latino music. Lisette proves him wrong, and her career takes off -- much to the chagrin of the jealous Chino.