John Clasky is a devoted dad whose skills as a chef have offered his family
a very upscale life, including a summer home in Malibu and a breathtaking
new Mexican housekeeper, named Flor. She and her daughter Cristina have
recently emigrated to L.A. from Mexico and are trying to find a better
life. When they move in with the Claskys for the summer, Flor has to fight
for her daughter's soul as she discovers that life in a new country is
perilous!
Flor emigrates to Los Angeles from Mexico in hopes of finding a better life
for her and her daughter, Cristina. Hired by the John and Deborah Clasky as
their housekeeper, Flor contends with the language barrier, Cristina's
budding femininity, and the eccentric Clasky's way of life.
A beautiful native Mexican woman becomes the housekeeper for the affluent,
yet troubled, Clasky family. The result is a wittily perceptive collision
of cultures and values, and a refreshingly honest look at such
life-altering commitments as marriage, parenting and devotion to family.
When a Mexican mother and her daughter come to the United States, the
mother, Flor Moreno, gets a job as a maid at the home of a successful chef
John Clasky, his insecure wife Deborah, their two children, and Deborah's
mother. Despite Flor's lack of an English language vocabulary, she tries
the best she can to assist the Clasky family in more than just house
cleaning matters. However, when Flor is forced to live with the family over
the summer, she has no choice but to bring her daughter, Christina along.
Deborah, much to Flor's disliking, treats Flor's daughter much like her own
and at the same time she hurts the feelings of her own daughter, Bernice,
as well as Flor. When John's dreams begin to unravel, he begins to feel
like his whole world is coming down around him, but with the love of his
children and with the help of Flor, he finds himself trying to get through
it all. Flor's daughter Christina, through which this story is told in a
college letter to Princeton University, serves as a translator for the
beginning of the film, but after Flor breaks the communication bridge by
learning to speak English, Christina must learn that things come and go in
life, but family is the most important thing a person can have.