Brief

A poor Honduran single mother sets out on an epic journey to the American border, determined to win a better life for her and her children. She has a big secret in her back pocket: her kids were sired by the current US President when she was 14 and trafficked by a gang leader.

What We Liked

Very topical subject that audiences will be intrigued by. Touches on the #MeToo movement of Jeffrey Epstein, with a fictional president revealed to be a pedophile. It also takes a hard look at immigration policies in the US and shows that wealthy independents could help out if they wanted.

Film: Good for a thriller/suspense, with a strong, sympathetic female lead setting out on a journey against all odds.

TV: Great as a streaming series.

Key points: Strong female lead with a convincing motive to escape a tough situation. Exotic foreign location. Topical politics showing corruption in the US government. Believable political scenes and figures. Well-maintained suspense.

Synopsis

Honduras, present day. GINA GARCIA (28, beautiful) lives in a poor part of town, working as a cigar roller in a factory while supporting her twins, SERGIO and VANIA (girl), both 12. Their town is run by a feared gang, the Cuernos del Diablo (Horns of the Devil), aka CDD, whose members have black horns tattooed on their foreheads. Their leader is HERNANDEZ (mid 30s), known as ‘Triple D’. Now he sends a couple of his thugs to confront Gina, ordering him to send Sergio for his ‘initiation’ into the gang in which he will have to kill someone – or his family will die. Gina dreaded this day and she determines to put her long-planned escape into action….

Meanwhile, in Bermuda, hotel mogul ELDON DAVIS (60) and his wife KIMBERLEY (60), a former US State diplomat, are meeting with their old friends BILLY (a former fighter pilot), FELIX (former PR manager for Eldon’s hotels) and LOUIS (former marketing for Eldon, all 60): he has an important proposition for them. Having made his fortune, Eldon wants to give back. He and Kimberley have been appalled by the current White House administration’s, under President Clyde Trenton, approach to border control, separating hundreds of children from their parents and housing them in horrible conditions. Eldon plans to create hundreds of nicer facilities, ‘Border House’, managed like hotels. Families will be kept together and live in safe, clean conditions while they await their immigration and asylum processing.

PRESIDENT TRENTON’s (60s, think Trump) private attorney, CORY JUKKER (50s), is on another flight down to Honduras to pay hush money, $150,000 to Hernandez, whom he despises. He is a drug dealer and sex trafficker, specializing in ‘Virgenistas’, 12-year-old girls or younger he offers to his clients for big bucks. When Cory turns down the ‘gift’ of such a virgin, he’s appalled when Hernandez rapes her in front of him. In fact, Gina was a Virgenista, forced into it to get money to pay for medical bills for her sick father, giving him another couple of years of life. Her twins are a product of that rape.

Eldon, Kimberly and their three friends meet with MIKE LANCE (50s), Secretary of Homeland Security, and DREW McCOY (50s), Secretary of State, to get their blessing for their Border House project.

They are pleased to learn that it has the backing of the President and both Houses, in gratitude to the Davises for defeating a terrorist plot several years before. Eldon and his team are all given special Homeland Security status, technically putting them in charge of ICE and other authorities, although they know it’s going to cause confusion on the ground with them giving orders. Meanwhile, PETE JERICHO (40s), Trenton’s Chief of Staff, knows that his boss is only ‘supporting’ the large migrant caravans in order to be seen turning them away at the border and giving the appearance that he is tough on immigration.

Gina gathers the kids and tells them to pack: they are going to visit her sister, MARIA (30), in El Salvador, where she lives with PACO CORTEZ (mid 30s), the leader of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, a rival gang to Hernandez’s. Gina takes Sergio aside and tells him the truth: she was a Virgenista and she’s now recognized the man who raped her by the small birthmark on his neck: it’s none other than President Trenton! He’s been paying hush money to the gang leader to keep their identity secret.

When Hernandez’s goons get to Gina’s house the next day, to pick up Sergio, they find them gone. Hernandez is furious and orders them to be found. Eldon and his wife are invited to the White House for a special medal ceremony for their part in taking down terrorists a year before. Their daughter CATHY (30), a surgeon, joins them – and also joins their Border House team as a medical consultant for the clinics which will be in every building. While there, Eldon is approached by DAMOND FURST (50s), a hard-core muck-raking journalist who implies that there’s a ‘fly in the ointment’.

Later, Damond slips Cory photographs taken 12 years ago on Trenton’s palatial yacht when he was visiting Honduras, showing Hernandez bringing his Virgenista girls on board: Trenton is clearly visible with them, along with FISHER (50s), the Undersecretary of Homeland Security, and ROMANO MARTINO (Honduran, 50s), the Honduran Defense Minister. Cory now suspects that Trenton is the father of the two kids he sends hush money to keep secret. Fed up with his part in it, Cory tells Trenton he’s resigning.

Gina arrives in El Salvador where Maria is surprised to see her, but immediately sympathetic when Gina tells her why she’s come. Gina knows that Hernandez killed Paco’s brother in a horrible way, binding him naked to a tree with barbed wire and then shooting him multiple times. She counts on him wanting revenge to help her. She has a plan to lure him out, kidnapping Gabriela Martino, the daughter of the Honduran Defense Minister who is one of Hernandez’s clients. They will hold her hostage until he kills Hernandez. In return, Paco will supply MS-13 protection (guards Roberto and Carlos) to escort them through Guatemala into Mexico to join a migrant caravan there. When he finds out that Gina and his kids have gone missing, Trenton orders Fisher to find them by going down to Mexico under the guise of installing facial recognition cameras to document immigrants.

The kidnap plan goes off without a hitch. Gabriela records a frightened message to her father and Paco sends his demands to Martino. Hernandez is captured by the military and transported to a remote forest location where they strip him and bind him to a tree with barbed wire. Paco is then able to exact his revenge, cutting off Hernandez’s balls and taking out his heart while he’s still alive. Once the gangster’s body is found, Martino is then hailed as a hero for ending his reign of terror. Gabriela is returned safely to her father.

Eldon and his team are angry when, after opening the flagship Border House in El Paso, TX, to acclaim, they receive orders from the President that it’s to be shut down, the project seen as a ‘threat’ to National Security. When Cory sees the news, he knows something is up and figures Trenton’s illegitimate children are on their way to the US where their identity could destroy his presidency. Cory calls Eldon who flies to meet him, along with Mike Lance of Homeland Security. He shows them the incriminating photos given to him by Damond Furst, revealing Trenton raped an underage girl. He also admits that he’s delivered hush money from the President to Hernandez for the last twelve years to keep the kids’ identity secret.

Gina and the kids are scared when DHS swoops in and separates them, having identified them through facial recognition at the migrant registration base. They are drugged and flown back to Honduras on separate plans. Gina is taken to a women’s prison while the children are taken to an orphanage. They are given different names to hide their identities. Eldon and Kimberley fly to Honduras to try and figure things out. They meet with MORALES, the photographer used to take annual ‘proof of life’ pics of Gina and the kids to blackmail Trenton. He takes them to Gina’s empty apartment where Eldon finds a newspaper cutting about the migrant caravans in Mexico. He assumes from Fisher’s presence down there that Trenton must have found them. Eldon prints up thousands of flyers and drops them into the tent city, where a family recognize Gina and confirm that they were taken away by DHS. As a reward, the family is given a fast-track path to US citizenship.

Fisher stupidly used government planes to transport Gina and the kids and so Eldon is able to track down the military pilots who confirm the presence of a drugged female and two children. They were told that Gina was a terrorist. Better still, their planes have CCTV cameras and have recorded footage of the drugged trio, and Fisher talking with Martino. Eldon and his team, including Mike, meet with Drew McCoy, the Undersecretary of State, and present their growing cache of damning evidence against the president. He is appalled. They fly down to meet with Honduran PRESIDENT RODRIGUEZ (50s), under the guise of a diplomatic mission. Once they have Martino safely surrounded by US Embassy military guards, they reveal the truth to the President: Martino is a pedophile. Martino is arrested on the spot and forced to give up the location of the kids. They rescue Gina first who has sadly attempted suicide by cutting her wrists. Eldon’s daughter Cathy is able to administer life-saving help before they transport her back to the Embassy medical clinic. Gina regains consciousness in time to have a tearful reunion with her children.

Eldon and his friends, Drew and Mike, and Gina and the kids, all return to the States on Eldon’s private jet and meet with Vice President CAROL BANCROFT (40s). She is appalled as they present all of the evidence and reveal that Gina’s kids were fathered by Trenton when she was 15. Carol calls an emergency meeting of the Heads of State and makes a formal presentation of the evidence in a conference room. They are shocked and disgusted to learn the truth about Trenton and vote in favor of the 25h Amendment to immediately remove the President from office. The Vice President and the Heads of State confront Trenton, bringing in Gina and her kids as proof. Trenton’s face turns pale! Gina now reveals a tiny flask, a sample of Trenton’s semen from the night he raped her. Trenton is arrested, as well as Fisher and Carol is sworn in as President.

Carol informs Gina and the kids that they have automatic US citizenship and she also presents her with her father’s guitar, left behind at her apartment, which they retrieved for her. Eldon flies back to El Paso where the first Border House opens, welcoming thousands of grateful refugees. Trenton stands trial and is found guilty. He is sentenced to 75 years in prison and has to pay unpaid child supporting totaling twenty million to Gina. She and the kids can now live in the comfort she aspired to. Sergio will go on to graduate from the Naval Academy while Vania becomes a theme park graphic artist. They live in Florida. Gina successfully runs for Congress.

About The Author

Author Frank Julius uses his personal experience as a Hungarian immigrant to Canada, as well as his success as a global hotelier to create a suspenseful story with very topical themes - immigration and corruption within the US government.