Selena (film) - Plot

Plot

In 1961, a young Abraham Quintanilla and his band "The Dinos" are rejected by a white restaurant owner for an audition due to their "Whites Only" policy. They then perform to a Mexican audience at a nightclub called "Lerma's", but a riot ensues when they sing "We Belong Together" and the band is forced to flee.

In 1981, Abraham is married to Marcela Samora and now has three kids. When his daughter Selena (Rebecca Lee Meza) sings with him while he is playing the guitar one day, he is amazed by her singing voice and decides to manage a band called "Selena y los Dinos" with Selena as the lead singer, and his son A.B. (Rafael Tamayo, Jacob Vargas) on bass, and his other daughter Suzette (Victoria Elena Flores, Jackie Guerra) on drums. He soon opens a restaurant for people to eat at and there Selena sings in front of the customers, and is warmly received. Unfortunately, the Quintanilla family goes bankrupt and loses the restaurant. They move to Corpus Christi, Texas to live with Abraham's brother. There, Selena performs at a carnival and is poorly received, but one day, while the family is on the beach Marcela hears a song on the radio and teaches Selena about a rhythm called Cumbia, which helps her and her band become more popular.

In 1989, Selena (now played by Jennifer Lopez) surprises her father when she wears and creates her first bustier. He gets upset, but Selena convinces him that "it's a cool thing." Selena meets a guitarist, Chris Perez, who after joining the band, develops a friendship with Selena. Abraham does not approve of Chris after his former rock band members trash a hotel suite even though he greatly helped in making music for the band. While Selena performs in Monterrey, Mexico, the crowd gets wild. Selena calms them down by singing her hit "Como La Flor". Chris and Selena's friendships grows into love and when Abraham catches them hugging on their tour bus, Big Bertha, he fires Chris from the band and threatens a heartbroken Selena that if she continues seeing him, he will disband the Dinos.

Selena and Chris continue seeing each other behind Abraham's back, but soon Selena becomes tired and tells Chris that she wants to marry him right away. In 1992 Selena and Chris elope secretly, but their marriage soon makes headlines on the radio. Selena goes to see Abraham, but he tells her that he is glad she did what she did, only wanting what was best for her (while at the same time tearfully confessing that he doesn't know how to let her go); also on the verge of tears herself, Selena comforts him. Chris is accepted into the Quintanilla family and returns to being the guitarist for Los Dinos.

During one of Selena's live performances, Jose Behar (the head of EMI Latin) and his music associates tell Abraham that they want to make an English language album for Selena. In 1994, Selena opens her first boutique called "Selena Etc.", which her fan-club president Yolanda Saldivar manages, and her album Selena Live! wins a Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American album. As 1995 begins, she starts recording her crossover album, and Saldivar gives her a friendship ring, lying that it was only from her when it was really a gift from Selena's staff and Saldivar.

Later, Selena finds out from Abraham that Yolanda was stealing money from the fan club and a lot of business records have gone missing. On March 9, Abraham, Selena, and Suzette confront Yolanda about the evidence, but she denies taking anything from Selena at all. Selena continues to achieve fame and her concert at the Houston Astrodome on February 26 attracts a record breaking crowd of 65,000. However, just one month later, on March 31, she was murdered by Yolanda Saldivar. Saldivar is arrested after a brief standoff while Selena's fans, friends, and family are left grieving over her death.

The film ends with footage of the real Selena while the song "Dreaming of You" plays.