After midnight, loud knocks on the door awake the family. "Hurry up and don't take any of your belongings!" one of the two armed guards shouts at Laura and her three children. Rio, Laura's husband, is waiting for them at the Port of Mariel in Havana to take them to the United States. Berta's family is not part of the group. It is April 1980. The sisters have been inseparable, both living in a house on Zapote Street in Havana. But Berta understands it is time for Laura to find happiness, to reunite with Rio after the Cuban government kept her separated from him for twelve years. It is time for Laura's children to have their father back.

But Berta, her husband Antonio, and their two young daughters are not ready to face the upheaval that follows. Overnight, neighbors and even family members turn into enemies. Berta and Antonio can trust no one. They must do everything possible to make it out alive.