Plot summary

During the summer of 1957 in Northern California, Richard Valenzuela (Lou Diamond Phillips) is a 16-year old Mexican-American teenager who lives with his mother Concepcion Valenzuela (Rosanna DeSoto) and his younger siblings. His family is poor, and he works as a farmworker after school. He loves music, especially rock and roll, and dreams of becoming a famous musician. Richie suffers from aviophobia on account of recurring nightmares about the mid-air collision that occurred directly over his school, in which his best friend was crushed to death by one of the fallen aircraft, an event he did not witness when he attended his grandfather's funeral. One day, Richie's troubled half-brother Roberto Morales (Esai Morales) arrives after being released from prison, surprising him and his mother. They all decide to leave the farm and move to a house in Southern California, along with Bob's girlfriend Rosie Caballero (Elizabeth Peña).Months later, Richie attends San Fernando High School where he falls in love with fellow student Donna Ludwig (Danielle von Zerneck), and joins his friend Chino's band, The Silhouettes, impressing them with his guitar skills. Meanwhile, Bob becomes an alcoholic and begins to abuse Rosie, shouting at her and raping her. When he learns that Rosie is pregnant, he refuses to take responsibility. Richie invites Donna to a garage party where he and the Silhouettes and performing. At the party, Richie performs in his guitar, but he doesn't get his turn to sing and Donna doesn't attend.Richie decides to host another party and becomes the Silhouettes' new leader after they vote out their original leader. However, a drunken Bob crashes the party and begins a brawl among the attendees. The next day, Bob Keane (Joe Pantoliano), the owner and president of Del-Fi Records in Hollywood, auditions Richie after seeing him perform at the party and signs him to his label; Keane becomes his record producer and manager. Richie and Donna become a couple, despite Donna's father disapproving his daughter dating a Hispanic teenager, and Richie begins recording songs like "We Belong Together" and "Come On, Let's Go" at Gold Star Studios. Keane gives Richie his professional name of "Ritchie Valens", which Richie dislikes at first, but eventually accepts. Ritchie begins releasing his songs on the radio and becomes an overnight sensation.Despite his increasing fame, Ritchie's relationship with Donna suffers with her father refusing to allow Ritchie to see her. He then gets the inspiration to write the song "Donna", as a tribute to her. One night, Bob meets up with Ritchie, and they take a road trip to Tijuana, Mexico for a good time. At a brothel, Ritchie sees a band performing the Mexican folk song "La Bamba". He awakens the next day in a small village and is given a talisman by an old man called El Curandero to protect him from his fear of flying. Ritchie and Bob return home to discover that Rosie gave birth to a girl named Brenda in their absence. Ritchie soon decides to make a rock and roll rendition of "La Bamba" as a single to go along with "Donna" and convinces Keane to release the song.At first, Ritchie avoids flying to his concerts and appearances, but eventually conquers his fear when invited to perform his song "Donna" on American Bandstand in Philadelphia. Keane helps him by giving him a little vodka to calm his nerves during the flight. Bob soon becomes jealous of Ritchie's success and drinks excessively while screaming and shouting at his family, wanting to see his daughter. Ritchie buys his family a brand-new house and goes to New York City to perform at Alan Freed's 1st Anniversary Rock 'n' Roll Show in Brooklyn, meeting Eddie Cochran (Brian Setzer) and Jackie Wilson (Howard Huntsberry) backstage. He then goes onto perform "La Bamba" much to the crowd's adoration. Arriving back home for Christmas, he is given a welcome back party by his family and friends. Bob is resentful and later begins a fight with Ritchie, breaking his talisman in the process. Ritchie promises Donna that he will always love her and hopes that one day they will get married.As Ritchie becomes more famous, his responsibilities change. He joins the Winter Dance Party Tour with Buddy Holly (Marshall Crenshaw) and The Big Bopper (Stephen Lee) after "La Bamba" and "Donna" reach the top of the Billboard charts. While performing at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, the tour bus' heating system breaks down, so Holly charters an airplane to fly to their next stop in Moorhead, Minnesota. Ritchie, Buddy and the Big Bopper take off in the airplane during a light snowstorm for their fateful flight on February 3, 1959 (a day that becomes known as "The Day the Music Died"). Before that, Ritchie makes a call to his brother, wherein they resolve their differences. He invites Bob to fly out to Chicago to join the tour for family support, which Bob accepts.The next day, as Bob is fixing his mother's automobile, he hears on the radio that Ritchie, Buddy and the Big Bopper's airplane crashed without any survivors. Bob darts out of his driveway in an attempt to get to his mother before she hears the tragic news through the radio. Unfortunately, by the time he gets to her house, she stands immobile. The tragic news hits the Valenzuela family, Bob Keane, and Donna very hard. After Ritchie's funeral procession at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Bob walks across a bridge and screams out Ritchie's name, remembering all the good times they had together (through flashback). During the closing credits, we then see Ritchie Valens perform his version of "La Bamba" at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater.