In the Mexican state of Michoacán, Dr. Jose Mireles, a small-town physician known as “El Doctor,” shepherds a citizen uprising against the Knights Templar, the violent drug cartel that has wreaked havoc on the region for years. Meanwhile, in Arizona’s Altar Valley—a narrow, 52-mile-long desert corridor known as Cocaine Alley—Tim “Nailer” Foley, an American veteran, heads a small paramilitary group called Arizona Border Recon, whose goal is to halt Mexico’s drug wars from seeping across our border.

It’s a warm and dry summer. Dan, Tom and Victor, three inseparable adolescents, take advantage of the last day of school to wander in the countryside. They jump with joy when they discover an abandoned old film studio, whose many corridors and halls are just begging to be explored. What they don’t know is that their new playing ground serves as a refuge for Isaac and Klarence Shooter, a man and his strange son who are determined to stop the trio from setting their eyes on their dark secrets. Night falls. Our friends are home again. But they soon realize that something has followed them. This night will be the longest of their young lives. And it very doubtful they’ll ever see the light of day again.