Happy Birthday Jesús chronicles the creation of a Jesús Olivas, a Mexican American boy raised by his grandmother in northern California. In a society where survival of the fittest is the key, young Jesús Olivas’ shyness and sensitivity become a malleable and vulnerable disadvantage. Transformed into the perfect victim by his grandmother, a religious fanatic, and the teachings of his parish priest, Jesús is progessively abused and brutalized. At eighteen, he marks his coming of age with the savage rape of a prostitute, the only person who loved him, and an attack that maims the parish priest he both hated and feared. Jesús is sentenced to thirty years behind prison walls in what becomes a labyrinth of unending horrors.