When Carmen Alvarado discovers she's dying of a malignant brain tumor, she tells her young daughter Belle that she shouldn't have to give up what she wants to do with her life for the one she loves--in her mother's words, "to let her light shine." Carmen had given up her dancing career to marry her husband, Chuck, who had been a Golden gloves champ when he gave up boxing for steadier work as a policeman. When she finds out that Belle has the talent and desire to box professionally, she helps her beautiful, young daughter find her dream and perhaps her way out of East L.A.