The story is about Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. Based on Arenas' writing and interviews, it follows him from birth in rural poverty, to his death in exile in New York City. Arenas fought with the rebels against the Batista regime, and was, for a short time, one of the leading literary lights of Cuba. Unfortunately, art is one of the first casualties of any dictatorship, regardless if it calls itself left wing or right wing.
Artists are notorious for flaunting social conventions and they generally refuse to be censored.
When his second book is censored, Arenas managed to get an uncensored manuscript smuggled out of the country and have it published in France. Naturally, the government did not like that, and he was a marked man for the remainder of his days in Cuba. In prison, Arenas used his writing skills to write letters for other prisoners. There are also attempts to escape Cuba in an inner tube and in a hot air balloon. Most of all, the movie shows Arenas' passion for writing and his heroic attempts to keep publishing, despite imprisonment and threats from the government.