Robbie Ducharme is pursuing his dream, leading clients in canoes down the remote Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande on the Texas/Mexico border. Newly-divorced Janey Hart decides Robbie's week-long trip will be just the thing to help her bond with her distant teenaged daughter. Others find themselves fording these treacherous waters for even greater stakes. Fifteen-year-old Sayda Pacheco is fleeing the gang violence of Honduras, hoping to start a new life in the U.S. Meanwhile, vigilante, Danny Gallagher, aims to stop any "illegals" from crossing the river.

In a drama reminiscent of Deliverance, all these characters collide on the Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande. Stripped of all that is familiar, each person's inner nature is revealed, for better and for worse. Within its magnificent walls, The Lower Canyons captures the personal and political trials of our time.