Pete and Donna Stanhope are a young married couple living in L.A. who are trying to conceive a child. When they discover they are unable to have children due to medical issues, their marriage begins to crumble. They decide to go on vacation and wind up stranded in a small village in Mexico (the fictional town of Dommatina) due to car troubles. They meet the charming young boy Pepillo, who was crippled in an accident years before that also killed his parents; Pepillo's adult brother Juan, the village mechanic; Magdalena, Juan's fiancé, who also takes care of the village children; and Father Arturo, the village priest who is helping prepare the "flying machine" for the upcoming fiesta.