Salvador arrives in the United States from Argentina with one big, unfocused goal: to become successful at something. He knows that America is the land of opportunity, and if he works hard, he will triumph.

Together with his childhood sweetheart, he settles in the Big Apple, where dreams come true.

But this ambitious young immigrant soon learns that it takes more than hard work and charisma to succeed and is changed by the harsh realities of living in New York.

Everyone has advice for Salvador as he moves from one dead-end job to another, attempting to reinvent himself. But the best advice comes from the loving letters he gets from his father. They keep him grounded and remind him of the man he wants to be until he loses this moral compass the day his father succumbs to diabetes.

As the 1960s roll into the 1970s and America and Salvador become less innocent, he finds himself in California, where he starts his own business, and it finally looks like the American Dream is within his grasp.

But things get complicated when Argentina is involved in a war in the early 1980s, and Salvador must decide where his allegiances lie. One wrong decision and bold act can bring his dreams crumbling down, and Salvador soon realizes that there are consequences for being impulsive and disloyal.

In the end, Salvador learns that there are boundaries men should not cross and that the love of family is the only worthwhile dream Americans should pursue.

Spanning decades, Let Us Begin is a moving story filled with joy and despair about a family searching for a home and a place to belong.

Julia Amante

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