Gabriel Cardona and Rosalio "Bart" Reta grow up in Laredo, Texas, drop out of school, and drift toward the Los Zetas cartel on the other side of the border, drawn by cars, cash, and status. The film tracks how Los Zetas, built from ex-military mercenaries and narcos, recruits American teenagers as hitmen and trains them for the job. Cardona and Reta live in safe houses in affluent Laredo neighborhoods, posing as ordinary families while waiting on call for orders to kill, working what amounts to a five-day week with assignments on both sides of the border. Payment runs up to $10,000 and two kilos of cocaine per job, with bonuses like a $70,000 Mercedes for work done well. Interviews with experts and former Zetas members fill in the organization's history, its recruitment methods, and how it has held territory against rival cartels and the Mexican government. The film centers on two individual cases to show what the cartel economy actually pays, and what it costs, at street level.