Mesa, in the middle of the Arizona desert, is considered the most conservative city in the USA. A few months before 9/11, director Fernanda Pessoa, aged 15, arrived there as an exchange student. Fifteen years later, she returns to demystify that experience and challenge the values of the American way of life.
Through the photographs and experiences Fernanda rescues from her teenage years in the US, which contrast with the current images of the environments she frequented and the interviews she conducts with her old acquaintances, the director establishes an internal dialogue with young Fernanda, the student. Soon, the bedazzlement for an American lifestyle built on her imagination through Hollywood films fades away and disappoints as she becomes aware of her immigrant status as she stumbles upon prejudice from others. Now, years later, words like racism, sexism, and xenophobia resonate in her memories and experiences, and she is able to confront and question a society that, 15 years later, still lives in an arid area where walls are erected to preserve traditional values flawed with imperfections.
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