Thanasis, a good-hearted cotton candy vendor from Athens, has been caring for little Melissa since she was a baby when her mother, an immigrant prostitute, thought it best to leave the girl behind while seeking fortune in America. Her unexpected appearance five years later has traumatic consequences when she takes her child away from Thanassis and leaves. Thanasis, suddenly alone, misses the child who was like a daughter to him and a comfort in his old age. Thanasis decides to travel to America in the hope of seeing her again. He does not have a visa. He does not speak English. He does not have much money. He does not know how to drive a car, and he has never been on an airplane. But he does have a distant cousin, Plato, a professional gambler, living in Las Vegas, who has offered to help him cross the border. Thanasis never suspects that Plato might have a scheme of his own.