the movie starts with selena (jennifer lopez) getting ready for her houston astrodome concert on february 26, 1995. after her performance, the movie goes back in time to 1961. abraham quintanilla, jr. (edward james olmos) and his band los dinos are at band practice. after band practice, they went to see a promoter in the other side of town. los dinos are then discriminated for being americans of mexican heritage. los dinos then performed at a spanish nightclub, and are booed off stage by mexicans for not knowing any mexican music. the movie goes forward in time to 1981. abraham had quit his dreams of becoming a music star and began helping his family. after work, abraham sat down on his chair and began playing the guitar. his youngest child, selena (rebecca lee meza) was playing a football game in the backyard. she noticed her father and was curious to know what he was doing. she started to sing in front of abraham. abraham was surprised, he started a family band, and named it selena y los dinos. he puts a.b. quintanilla iii (rafael tamayo) on base and suzette quintanilla (victoria elena flores) on drums. selena became the singer of the group.