The film documents the national tragedy of illegal immigration as experienced by the residents of Cochise County, AZ. The county has only 130,000 residents, yet was the crossing point for more than 235,000 illegal immigrants in 2004. The movie documents the toll this takes on the local community, the environment and on the immigrants themselves. It features interviews with Cochise County residents and officials, Border Patrol officials, pacifists, civil rights activists and illegal immigrants as well as extraordinary footage of actual border crossings.