Stacy is a young gang leader in Crescent Heights, the poor city next to the richer city of El Serrano. His gang regularly raids the white, rich neighborhood of El Serrano, but lately, Stacy has begun to feel trapped and disappointed in himself for the harm he has caused in the community. Now, he only goes on raids out of obligation.  The gang’s motto is “where there is light there is wealth,” which refers to the high cost of electricity which kept the poor city dark and the rich city lit up at night. While he loves the city of Crescent Heights, he dislikes its racist school system, which feels like a prison. Stacy is able to get away with certain violations of rules at school because the principle fears him.  Stacy and his gang grew up in the projects in Crescent Heights, a geographical symbol of resistance against Los Angeles gentrification. The hills in Crescent Heights were legendary, and many long-time residents told tales of people who entered them and never returned. Sometimes, when the grass was dry, gang members would set the hills on fire and watch in amusement as firefighters ran to put it out. Mitch, one of Stacy’s gang members, used to set the hills on fire with regularity and yelled at his mother. When he did such things, the gang would beat him up. He threatened to kill his father, Mr. Chapultapec, and hurled insults at him when the gang saw him on Friday evenings at a bar. On Sunday evenings, Mrs. and Mr. Chapultepec could be found at the Catholic church, and sell warm goodies to Stacy and others. Stacy first heard about the legend of Llorona from the ladies who ran the church stand. In the story, a mother murders her children to get revenge on her cheating husband and hid their bodies. An angel visited her and said that, until she brought the bodies to a priest for a proper burial, she would not find peace. When she could not find them, she spent the rest of eternity wandering through the hills and crying. The mothers of Crescent Hills told their children that if they were bad, Llorona would find them and take them to the hills.  Stacy knows that his generation will likely be the last of Crescent Hills’ original population to stay in the area, as most young people are moving out and rent rates are rising. Crescent Hills was known as the marijuana capitol of Los Angeles. A rival gang in the neighborhood, the Marijuanos, dominated the crime scene, and Stacy’s gang made sure to stay out of their way.  One time, while they raided a school cafeteria, Mitch turned on the gas and came at other gang members with a fork when they tried to shut it off. They fled, and left the fire department to handle the destruction. On a Saturday night, they head out into El Serrano to rob cars. Stacy feels drawn to one car in particular, and when he looks inside, he finds a powerful flashlight, which he takes. He feels as though the flashlight is the beginning of a new direction in his life.  When he shows the others, however, they are upset because they hadn’t been invited on the mission. Afterwards, he walks around the neighborhood with his flashlight. When he runs into Chango, a Marijuano, he shines the light on him, and Chango darts away. Stacy feels a sense of power with his new tool. The next evening, he hides in the bushes and scares them by making a loud noise and putting them in a spotlight. The next day at school, Mitch tells Stacy that the gang is after him, but despite the Marijuanos best efforts, they couldn’t catch him. One day, the Marijuanos stopped running from the light and trying to catch Stacy. A memeber of the Marijuanos named Chico took him aside and offered him a deal: $10 for his flashlight. Chico says if he doesn’t take the deal they will kill him and bury him in the hills. Stacy gives him the flashlight and returns to his gang, who plan to visit El Serrano again that night for another raid. Later on in the night, they run into the Marijuanos. While Chico had given Stacy his word, the other gang members don't agree, and pull their knives on their rivals. Chico calls the attack off and the men offer Stacy a blunt. He gets high and has trouble finding his way back home. As he attempts to navigate the streets of the projects, he laughs at the fact that the Marijuanos will never have a use for the flashlight.