प्लॉट

Raised in opulence and culture, 10-year-old Tochtli's lavish life contrasts with the darkness that seeps in from his father's criminal activities.

Tochtli, a boy who likes hats, dictionaries, samurais, guillotines, and the French. And now, all he wants is a new animal for his private zoo: a Namibian pygmy hippo. HIs father, Yolcaut, is willing to satisfy his every whim, even if that whim is an endangered exotic animal. Because Yolcaut will always manage.

Tochtli (Miguel Valverde), who lives in a secluded palace in Mexico that was built by his gangster father, Yolcaut (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). In addition to the father-son duo, there's Chichilkuali, Miztli, Itzpapalotl, and Azcatl, who live on the estate, which doubles as a zoo filled with exotic animals from all over the world. Tochtli is home-schooled by Mazatzin (Raul Briones). Other than him, the only outsiders allowed to step foot into Yolcaut's kingdom are his girlfriends. Tochtli isn't allowed to step outside; hence, his perception of the world is created through Yolcaut's opulence, Mazatzin's education, and the movies and shows that he gets to watch on TV. But, very often, Tochtli's understanding of reality clashes with the reality that everyone else lives in, thereby causing him to question everything and grow up in the process. That creates a rift between Tochtli and Yolcaut.

Tochtli wears a headgear from his huge collection of hats, caps, and sombreros for the different chapters of his life. In the first chapter, Tochtli wears a Tricorne hat for his birthday. It's meant to reflect the life of luxury he is living and how it's becoming all the more audacious with each passing birthday. Tochtli gets a bunch of incredibly expensive gifts (The boy already had a full zoo in the premises, and he gets night vision goggles, a sombrero and an exotic rare bird from Brazil), and he seems to appreciate all of them.

However, given how his eyes are set on the pygmy hippopotamus, it's apparent that he isn't satisfied with what he has. Mazaztin tries to teach about the French Revolution and what happens to the affluent when the poor and the downtrodden revolt against the wealthy by talking about the French Revolution, but Tochtli doesn't really get it. Mazaztin is the only person in the house who doesn't indulge Tochtli and tries to instill good values in him to make him a good person. Yolanda (Rocio Guzman) is the teenage niece of the house maid Itzpapalotl, who comes to the estate to help her mother. Tochtli makes friends with her.

One day the governor shows up at Yolcaut's doorstep, asking for his help. The governor says that he needs more money to bribe the new President and the new minister to leave Yolcaut alone. However, Yolcaut's ego clouds his senses, and he evidently sours his dynamic with the governor by kicking him out of the house in the middle of dinner.

Yolcaut learns on the news about Mexico's plans to extradite drug smugglers to the US. US Special Operations team start picking up drug lords from Mexico and Yolcaut knows that sooner than later, he would be next. The revelation that Yolcaut isn't the invincible powerhouse that he claims to be piques Tochtli's curiosity. So, he takes on the role of a detective by wearing the deerstalker hat that was made famous by Sherlock Holmes. Tochtli learns that other than the people on the premises of the palace, there's one other person that Yolcaut trusts, and that person is Paula. She is his advisor, and, even though it's not very clear, she probably acts as the bridge between Mexico and the United States of America, thereby allowing Yolcaut to conduct his business smoothly.

Tochtli's little excursion into the dark side of Yolcaut's life takes him to his gang's armory, and he gets his hands on a revolver, which marks his first step towards a violent lifestyle. He notices Yolcaut bringing a prostitute named Quecholli to his home. Mazatzin tries to offer an alternative by asking him to step out of the palace. Mazatzin even dares to argue with Yolcaut on the topic of machismo. By giving educational books to Chichilkuali, Mazatzin shows that reformation is always an option. However, all those lessons go down the drain after Tochtli witnesses his father torturing an individual. Yolcaut indicates that the meat fed to the lions and tigers in their private zoo comes from human corpses from inside the estate. Yolcaut decides to take a trip to escape the closing clutches of the US Special forces. Yolcaut takes Tochtli to Namibia to get a pygmy hippo, the kid becomes all the more detached from reality.

In Namibia, Tochtli dons the hat and khaki getup of an explorer. It becomes apparent that fulfilling Tochtli's wishes is just another excuse for Yolcaut to show how powerful and influential he is. The gangster gets a reality check when Tochtli pulls out a gun right before his eyes to kill an innocent wild dog. Yolcaut could've used that opportunity to teach Tochtli that he shouldn't pick up a gun. Instead, he tells Tochtli to focus on his studies because that's something that Yolcaut didn't get as a child. However, Yolcaut doesn't reprimand Tochtli at all and prematurely helps him develop a taste for bloodshed.

The Namibian guide manages to neutralize pygmy hippos so that they can be shipped to Mexico. Yolcaut and Tochtli get yet another chance to face reality when the hippos fall sick, thereby rendering them incapable of being shipped. Yolcaut kills them in front of Tochtli instead of reasoning with him and talking to him about the kind of pain the animals are experiencing because of their greed, and he scars the kid for life. Tochtli ends up urinating in his own pants. Inadvertently, Yolcaut ends up teaching Tochtli that he isn't in the best hands when it comes to learning about compassion and empathy for living beings. Yolcaut believes in either caging beautiful animals or killing them. Although Tochtli's instinct tells him that he doesn't like that, he doesn't have an alternative to choose from.

Despite having everything at his beck and call, Tochtli doesn't have a lot of options when it comes to choosing what his father wants him to do versus what he wants to do. But the kid realizes that the act of protesting doesn't have any age restrictions. So, he puts on the not-so-traditional attire of a samurai and vows to not communicate with Yolcaut until the gangster admits that he is in the wrong. The collapse of his empire and the death of Quecholli don't make things easy for Yolcaut. Mazatzin tries to make things easy by giving Tochtli a book about the samurai and telling him how much he cares about him. Meanwhile, Yolcaut simply replaces Quecholli with a woman named Cuazalotl and moves on.

Things begin to reach some form of normalcy, but that's when it's revealed that Mazatzin has been spying on Yolcaut on behalf of the authorities. He publishes a detailed document of what goes on in the palace, but he doesn't mention Tochtli to save him from the legal ramifications of the war between the government and Yolcaut. Paula asks Yolcaut to disappear for a few years, but he flatly refuses. Yolcaut's downfall is marked by the severed head of the governor, which is found in the estate kitchen. The Mexican police launch a full-scale attack on the palace (something that is foreshadowed by Tochtli when he plays with his toys on a replica of the palace). Yolcaut manages to get Tochtli out of there with Cuazalotl, with the promise that he is going to get in touch with him when the situation improves.

After being whisked away by the family (the kid who gave Tochtli a He-Man toy belongs to this family) living on the outskirts of the palace, Tochtli has been adopted by a white American family. It seems like his Mexican roots have been completely cut off, as he proudly dons a coonskin cap since he is unaware of its racist and violent connotations. However, even though he isn't around for Tochtli, Yolcaut manages to remind his son of where he comes from by sending him the Taxidermied heads of two pygmy hippos as a birthday gift.

Tochtli's past hasn't been completely erased because Yolcaut is keeping tabs on him.