The book is about two families and their motives and need for getting into the drug business. The American family is completely dysfunctional as a family unit but the Father shows great talent for organizing and running an illegal marijuana distributing business. His trouble starts when he becomes ambitious. The Mexican family is much more complete and cohesive as a family but found themselves in dire need of money and lots of it to compete with fellow families in their community. Their troubles escalate when they decide to venture into heroin and cocaine. The people they deal with to accomplish their goals were part of organizations neither family understands and, for the most part, don’t know exists.