- An immigrant single mother disenfranchised by her regular life decides to take a chance working at a Japanese restaurant and realises her dreams to become a sushi chef to provide a better future to her family.
- Single mom Juana can slice and dice anything with great speed and precision. After working at a fruit-vending cart for years, she decides to take a job at a local Japanese restaurant. Intrigued by the food, she learns to make a multitude of sushi on her own. Eventually she attempts to become a sushi chef, but is unable to because she is the 'wrong' race and gender. Against the odds, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery, determined to not let anyone stop her from achieving her dream.—Anonymous
- In Oakland, Juana must get up at 4 every morning, and drag her poor daughter Lydia out of bed way too early, so she and her father Apa can go buy and prepare what they need for their fruit cart. It is never mentioned where Lydia's father is, and later Juana's mother is mentioned as if she has died. Apa has a job in Charlie's store, but he is getting old and when Juana sees him having trouble, she wishes he would just go home. But they both need to work and Apa goes to the store. After selling fruit from her cart, Juana must go to work cleaning up a gym. She is not respected there. Lydia goes to a school where she must wear a uniform and tuition costs money.
One day a pair of thugs rob Juana. Even though she stored her money in several places, they knew all the places. Juana needs a safer job. And as it turns out, as she passes the Osaka restaurant, there is a Help Wanted sign. She goes in and inquires about the job. The next day, Mrs. Yoshida interviews her and explains that the job is to assist in the kitchen. There are men out front where the customers can see them preparing the sushi, but Juana must do other jobs in the kitchen such as washing dishes. Juana is willing to do whatever it takes, and while she has had lots of experience working in the kitchens of Mexican restaurants, she will not admit that she wants to do more than just work in the kitchen.
When Juana starts work, Aki is very supportive and makes sure she knows everything she needs to in order to be a productive employee. Juana even gets to bring food home to her family. One reason is that some of the food does not meet the restaurant's high standards. Lydia and Apa are both reluctant to try this food that is new to them, but Juana explains even though it is uncooked, this tuna tastes better than canned. Juana does not succeed in her first attempt to make really good sushi, but she asks Aki for advice.
Juana gets the opportunity to help out preparing the food when it gets busy. She is a fast learner, and already quite experienced with some duties. Mr. Yoshida sometimes helps but he has two restaurants. He is very traditional and gets annoyed that Juana is playing such a large role in food preparation. Other than Aki, the chefs make fun of her for aspiring to be a chef because only men can be sushi chefs, and they give silly reasons why. Aki has no problem with her dreams but can't take the time to teach her. She needs a formal cooking class.
Juana researches cooking schools on a computer that has seen better days. People haven't used monitors like this since the days when most people had dial-up Internet. And the cost of a cooking class is more than Juana can afford. But there is s sushi chef competition, if only Juana can participate. There is enough prize money for formal classes and Lydia's school.
A year has passed and nothing has changed. Robert, one of the chefs, is criticized for drinking too much and for taking orders for food that is not sushi. If anyone wants other types of food, they must order from a waitress. Robert eventually quits his job and that leaves an opening, but Juana will not be the one to fill it. Already, Mr. Yoshida has been criticized by a customer for not keeping his restaurant authentic by having Juana out front. Juana will talk to Aki, but she will not stand up to Mr. Yoshida for fear of losing her job. However, Aki has pointed out Juana developed their most popular dish and no one realizes it came from her.
Juana decides to enter the sushi chef competition. This requires a video of the person preparing the food. A friend has a camera and Apa and Lydia make the video, being careful not to show Juana's face. She calls herself J. Martinez, and while the name makes it clear she is not Japanese like the other contestants, making people think she is a man might give her an edge.
There is an opening for a chef, but someone else is interviewed--a man, of course. At long last, Juana stands up to Mr. Yoshida. He will not change his mind. A woman cannot be a sushi chef, he says, and she's Mexican. So what? One of the chefs is Korean. Robert was Chinese. Of course, the reason they could do the job would be obvious, but Juana is tired of being disrespected. She says a word that apparently cannot be spoken on TV and quits. Juana is shown cleaning cars at a dealership. And no, she does not want to work in a Mexican restaurant.
Later, Aki shows up at Juana's apartment with a gift, and they have a relationship which might turn romantic. Their first date involves a taco truck.
At long last, Juana hears from the competition. She is to go to the TV studio. When she arrives, the Japanese receptionist is very nice, and a nice woman who looks Asian (but isn't Japanese) tells Juana what she needs to do. The men are shocked and almost want to keep her form competing, but to prevent a lawsuit, they go ahead. Three men, all Japanese, are also competing. Everyone is interviewed, and Juana says her job is not to change what sushi is because it is a valued tradition, but to make it better. The Osaka chefs, including Mr. Yoshida, are watching from the restaurant . Juana does better than some of the men in the first round and actually wins the second round.
But at the end of the third round, Juana comes in second. She will not go on to the nationals or win any money. At long last, she is shown crying in private.
However, Juana didn't really lose. She has the respect of Mr. Yoshida and at the end of the movie, she is finally out front. The family is there to eat.
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