1930s Los Angeles, a city both exotic and vulgar, glamorous and raunchy. L.A. is the city of first and last resort, where all dreams are supposed to come true, bustling with people from everywhere in search of health and wealth, fame and fortune. So it is for Arturo Bandini (Colin Farrell), a son of Italian immigrants who dreams of becoming a famous novelist and marrying a beautiful blonde, and Camilla Lopez (Salma Hayek), a Mexican who longs to marry a WASP and shed her last name. In a time when relations between Anglos and people of Mexican descent hang by tattered threads, Bandini and Camilla collide with one another, fighting the city and themselves to make their dreams come true.