Content Warning: This section of the guide refers to xenophobia, rape, murder, enslavement, other violence, and challenges faced by immigrants.

Vali is the novel’s 16-year-old protagonist, who is an undocumented immigrant living in a fictionalized, dystopian version of the United States in 2032. Vali is loyal, determined, and deeply thoughtful to the point where she is often temporarily speechless due to the absurdity of rapidly worsening circumstances around her. Originally from Colombia, Vali walked to California with her parents at the age of four, where Vali and Mami were implanted with counterfeit ID chips to evade capture by government agencies. After Papi was arrested by ICE, he was deported, then murdered; Vali’s mother subsequently moves the family to Vermont to avoid the increasing immigration raids in California. Later, Mami is captured due to a malfunctioning chip.

Despite losing her father and, at least temporarily, her mother as well, Vali learns The Importance of Resilience in the Face of Adversity and keeps pushing forward in her journey back to California, which has become a sanctuary state welcoming undocumented immigrants, and where her Tia Luna also lives. Vali also passes this resilience onto her younger brother, Ernie, for whom she is responsible throughout the journey, once their parents are both gone.