INTO THE BEAUTIFUL NORTH. Luis Alberto Urrea. Little, Brown. 352 pages. $24.99.

Immigration -- or as the Mexicans call it, migration -- is not a new theme for Luis Alberto Urrea, who explored it in his nonfiction book, The Devil's Highway. But in his latest novel, he takes a new and interesting path to understanding why people leave home.

There are no men left in Nayeli's dusty town. Her father, along with the rest of the young and able men, has run to el Norte, the United States, in search of a better life. Even Matt, the blond missionary who loves movies and over whom Nayeli and her friends Vampi and Yolo swoon, has returned home to California.

Matt had been the projectionist at the tin-roofed, concrete wall movie house that showed old Hollywood classics. There is no man to fill his job. Tacho, the gay owner of the local taco eatery, doesn't really count. The Pedro Infante movie house must stay open, and the owner has just the picture to lift the town's spirits: The Magnificent Seven, a film that for him shows the true grit of Mexican men. ''You know the plot,'' says the old priest to Nayeli. ``Villagers are beset upon by bandidos. Overwhelmed and overwrought, they go to Los Yunaites and find seven gunmen that they bring back from the border to fight for them.''

The film gives Nayeli an idea: What if she goes to El Norte, a la Yul Brynner, calls on Matt and her father, and brings them home along with five other men to save their dusty town from oblivion?

It's a lofty plan by another heroine from the pen of Urrea, whose last novel, The Hummingbird's Daughter, also portrays a fearless Mexican woman. Into the Beautiful North doesn't match the literary splendor of Hummingbird, but it draws a clear picture of a determined, albeit naíve, young woman with a vision.

To tell a story of the passage of four young Mexicans across the border to the United States could have been a harrowing tale of close encounters with desperation or abuse. But here, as in all great adventures, there's also fun. Nayeli, Tacho, Vampi and Yolo are driven by different motives to cross the border but ultimately have a great sense of curiosity.

Migration of undocumented Mexicans to the States is a sensitive and divisive subject. Many border cities have become centers of corruption and frustration, and Tijuana, where the quartet is headed, is one of those. Here Nayeli finds a combination of the ugly and the beautiful, the depressing and the inspiring, the sad and the comforting, the two faces of the well-trodden trek: ``The sorrow of the terrible abandoned garbage dump and the sad graves and the lonesome shacks made her feel something so far inside herself that she could not define it. . . .''

No great adventure is told without great characters, and Urrea certainly knows how to create them. Atomiko, ''baddest of the trash-pickers,'' is a prime example. He reigns over a hill of dump, but Nayeli's quest is too intriguing to pass. ''You're collecting men? -- And you'll smuggle them out of the Yunaites? -- Back to Mexico?. . . . But it's illegal to transport illegals.'' And Atomiko is not the only colorful character you'll encounter.

That Urrea has turned a usually disturbing subject into a book that keeps a smile on your face is a tribute to his storytelling. The 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction fully understands the duality that is so intrinsic in the Mexican psyche since the days of the Maya and the Aztecs. Life is death, and death is life. For Nayeli, joy and sadness are intermingled in her journey. So it will be for readers of this uplifting novel.

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