A disillusioned couple attempts to salvage their fractured relationship during a six-day seaside retreat amidst the oppressive atmosphere of Castro's Cuba. The narrative follows Hector, a poet and former revolutionary, and his wife as they navigate the physical and psychological confinement of their environment. The story utilizes a dual-perspective framework, alternating between the wife's grounded account of domestic despair and the husband's surreal, poetic reflections on political and personal repression. Their objective to rediscover intimacy is constantly thwarted by the pervasive influence of a state that demands total ideological conformity.

Discussion often centers on the intense, hallucinatory prose style that mirrors the protagonist's internal fragmentation. Readers frequently highlight the stark contrast between the wife's realistic, often bleak, domestic observations and the husband's more abstract, lyrical lamentations. Critics often note the significance of the book's history, as the text was famously rewritten from memory after being confiscated by authorities. The work is widely regarded as a significant contribution to the literature of exile and political resistance. Many readers find the atmospheric weight of the setting to be a primary driver of the narrative's emotional impact.