In this tiny, remote Cuban fishing village, virtually every family has a relative living abroad and everyone is utterly dependent on the sea. Dilapidated Russian trucks ferry water to a population lacking drinking water, the shops are empty and basic transportation is nonexistent. Voices of the Sea is the story of a 30-something woman longing for a better life. Her first husband, and the father of her two eldest sons, drowned trying to escape Cuba on a raft with 30 people on board (only one survived). She’s tried to escape once herself, and now wants to try again.
As the USA vies for Cuba’s favor, like most Cubans, she is afraid that the Cuban Communist party, even while opening up trading links, will consolidate its control over the people. Ailing but still strong in spirit, her much older second husband loves his community, cherishes friendships, his fishing craft, and childhood memories of learning to fish with his father. He focuses on passing on his craft to their teenage son. The tension between husband and wife — one desperate to leave, the other content to stay — builds after her younger brother and the couple’s neighbors escape. Will she throw her fate to the sea again?