In the fictional farming village of Tlachtlán, in the Cihuatlán Valley of Jalisco, Mexico, young men dream of escaping the drudgery of the banana plantations. Two of them, a pair of half-brothers, play in local soccer matches. Tato  is the star striker and Beto  is the eccentric goalkeeper. During one match they are spotted by a talent scout  and he offers one of them the opportunity to go to Mexico City with him and try out for one of the country's big teams. As the scout's roster is already full, he says he can only take one of the brothers and they decide to settle it on a penalty shot. Tato scores the penalty against his brother therefore earning the right to head to the capital. After a slow start Tato finally makes it big and earns the nickname 'Cursi' . His brother soon follows and joins a rival team where he is given the nickname 'Rudo' . Cursi becomes a national hero and starts dating Maya Vega , a famous model, whilst his brother struggles with life in the city and misses his family back home. Things start to go worse for the brothers. Tato loses both his woman and his goal scoring touch while his brother gets lured into a world of cocaine and gambling. It becomes clear that the drug cartels own everything. Their sister back home marries the local drug lord, Don Casimiro, whose far-reaching tentacles eventually affect the whole family. Everything finally depends upon one match as the two brothers come face to face. Cursi is threatened with demotion to Division 2 if he fails to score in this match; Rudo must throw the match in order to pay off his gambling debts or he will be killed. In the last minute Rudo saves a penalty from Tato and the match finishes goalless. Cursi quits football and returns home, and Rudo is shot, losing a leg and ending his career. They both end up back in Tlachtlán with their family where the simpler lifestyle seems to better suit them.