Jose Saramago, Portugal's most famous novelist, and his wife, Pilar, return home after an exhausting promotion tour to finish his final masterpiece. But the public demands more of him, with the clock ticking, and he is dragged farther and farther away from the art he loves and devotes himself so much to. A funny, witty and touching portrait on the endurance of an artistic and humanistic spirit, on how it finds its communion and strength in the form of his wife Pilar and how they forge ahead together through the enormous pressures of being a very private man with a very public persona.

10月21日，1929年，海洋上航行的班轮Saturnia到美国旅行的里雅斯特，拿起从地中海港口的移民。一个年轻的希腊帕特雷谁走在将见证一个意想不到的遭遇：在这个船只进行的新的世界的梦想的夜晚，会发生只是一个梦想，但一两个伟大的诗人在过去一个世纪真正的会议：费尔南多佩索阿和君士坦丁Cavafy。