Young Chuy Garcia longs to join his father, who has left Mexico in search of a better life for his family in the United States. To save money for the trip north, Chuy convinces his father's former employer at the local muffler shop to hire him to do odds and ends. There, Chuy learns something new about his father: he is the artist who made the Muffler Man, a metal statue that stands in front of the shop inviting customers inside. Once Chuy arrives in the United States he reunites with his father, but is surprised to find that life is more difficult than expected. Inspired by his father's art--the tin figures fashioned together out of scrap metal pieces found scattered about the shop--Chuy helps his father find a way to prosper in their new homeland.