Popi

Of Puerto Rican descent, widowed Abraham Rodriguez lives with his two sons, 11-year-old Junior and 9-year-old Luis, in a one-room unit in a Spanish Harlem tenement. He works three manual-labor jobs to provide the basics, which leaves him little quality time with his boys. As a result, the boys are often left to their own devices and get into trouble as they find creative ways to survive in the rough neighborhood. Abraham's girlfriend Lupe wants the two of them to get married and the four of them to move to Brooklyn to eke out a better life for them all, something Abraham is reluctant to do; he doesn't want to lose his connection to his Puerto Rican roots, plus he wants an even better life for his sons. He has a plan that stems from the reverence he sees that American society has for Cuban immigrants in their escape to freedom. Without telling anyone until the last minute, even the boys and Lupe, he plans to set the boys off in a small boat off the coast of Miami Beach--filled with background stories of Cuban life that he collected from Cuban immigrants in his neighborhood--so that ultimately the authorities will pick them up as Cuban refugees and get them adopted by a wealthy family so they will live in luxury. He also plans to not leave Miami until he knows that the boys have been rescued. What happens with this plan is affected by the love Abraham has for his boys in wanting that better life for them?