The 13-year-old Carlos lives in the Barrio – a Nicaraguan shanty town. His greatest wish is to become a “coplero” (the poet and lyricist) in a Gigantona group. Dance, theater and rhymes are combined and presented in these traditional groups of children. The huge Gigantona doll represents an oversized Spanish woman who dances round the “Enano” – a small indigenous man – accompanied by wild drumming. Carlos dances as the Enano while Isabel, a couple of years older than him, provides the rhythm. After vying for the position of coplero, Carlos gets kicked out of his group. At first he hides his expulsion from his family, but when his father walks out, it comes to light and Carlos is forced to earn money as a laborer.