When Manny Hernandez turned eighteen, he left behind the desperately poor Rio Grande Valley with one goal in mind: become a professional soccer player. He stumbled a few times, but found plenty of adventure along the way as he and his best friend Hector traveled across Texas and the West Coast. Still, what happened on the field isn't even half the story.

A pulsating and raw look at the Mexican-American community's struggles with poverty, alcoholism, infidelity, and heterosexism. A thoughtful reflection on a brash young man who grew into a loving father. An indisputably...