Kiki Fonseca finally has a shot at her dream: lead singer for a Latin band at the Hollywood Palladium. It’s the day before Christmas Eve 1949, in the old neighborhoods of Chavez Ravine in the hills above Los Angeles. The young mother needs to make a dress and tamales too. But her eight-year-old son Rudy, equal parts angel and hellion, has other ideas.
When Rudy pushes Kiki to the brink, she falls back on an age-old scare tactic: Keep that up, and the cucuy will come and get you.
Kiki doesn’t believe in the boogeyman until a gust of wind whips up the dirt roads of La Loma and a hooded nightmare appears.