This is a winning, upbeat story about a Hispanic kid from the streets who suffers through a battle against cancer and discrimination at the same time. When Neekos Valdez (Esai Morales) was swiping a radio from a pickup one night, he was accidentally dragged along the street behind the pickup. Rushed to the hospital, the doctors treat him but also discover he has cancerous tumors in his abdomen. Shocked into an awareness of the impermanence of human life, Neekos puts up a valiant fight against the cancer, follows his prescribed regimen, and in the process, he makes friends with another cancer patient, Jack Marti (Chuck Bail), an ex-boxer. When up-tight hospital administrators discover that Neekos is the son of an illegal immigrant, they decide that deportation proceedings should be started against him. His social worker and his doctor do the best they can to help him, but they have no authority over the hospital administration. His only hope may be Jack, the one man who was inspired by his fight against cancer, and the one man with enough courage to step into the ring when others see the contender as too formidable to face.
~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide