The film examines the last 15 years (1961–1976) in the life of Cuban poet and novelist José Lezama Lima, based on correspondence with his sister Eloísa, in exile. A literary master of the Latin American boom, Lezama was condemned to silence and isolation by an intransigent government that could not accept his lack of revolutionary commitment and his sexual orientation. The film draws on interviews conducted in Cuba and in the United States.