A Letter with Pigtails

A tender and thrilling escape across borders, where a little girl becomes a letter — and history rides the rails.

1914: Johanna, the daughter of a railway engineer in Mexico City, must reach her mother in Texas. To keep her safe, her father decides to put a stamp on her and send her in a postal carriage. A long journey awaits, full of weird and wonderful encounters – including with Pancho Villa himself. Emotions, conspiracies and secrets all wound up in an enormous adventure. 

Set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution, a gripping tale of escape, hope, and courage. In a world of soldiers, secrets, and steam trains, Johanna — a determined girl with braids and a porcelain doll — is entrusted with an impossible mission: reaching safety in America, as a literal piece of mail. Johanna is ten years old, lives in Mexico City, and has two tight braids and a porcelain doll named Miss Petunia. With the situation deteriorating in Mexico, her father — an engineer under pressure from corrupt officials — hatches a desperate plan: disguise Johanna as a parcel and smuggle her across the border to El Paso, using the Wells Fargo postal service. Her destination? Her mother, safety… and the unknown. As the revolution rages around her, Johanna finds herself in a postal carriage, surrounded by crates and letters. But she’s not alone. She’ll meet Chico, a kind-hearted train boy with big dreams, and Luisito, a gruff postman with a soft side. Together, they will navigate borders, bandits, and secrets, while learning that even a child can shape history — and that every letter, even a little one with pigtails, carries a story worth delivering.