As Reinaldo Arenas lies dying of AIDS in New York City, he remembers his home in Cuba as Fidel Castro takes power. A counter-revolutionary and homosexual, he is prosecuted by the state for having his manuscripts published outside Cuba. After a period of imprisonment and torture, Reinaldo's friend Lazaro receives permission to leave the country, but Reinaldo must find a way to escape to America. After learning he has a fatal disease, Reinaldo rushes to finish his memoirs and Lazaro stays by his side until the end.

FUll synopsis

ACT I:
Manhattan 1990: Reinaldo Arenas (Rey), a Cuban expatriate and internationally-acclaimed author, feels death approaching from an AIDS-related disease, diagnosed three years prior. His close friend, Lázaro, encourages Rey to write once more, but Rey feels the separation from his homeland so acutely, inspiration will not come. Determined to have his revenge by sharing the truth of his history, he endeavors to finish his memoir, and he summons his Muses, The Sea and The Moon, to help him remember – to recall the warm Caribbean days and nights.

Small Cuban Village 1958: Rey is once again at home on the beach in Cuba. The beauty of the land makes him think of his mother and how love so easily comes and goes, as evidenced by her lonely life. A group of friends appear, led by Rey's closest friend Pepe, who takes advantage of the quiet beach by enjoying a dance together. While their thoughts turn to dreams of the future, Pepe and Rey decide to run away and join Castro's Revolutionary Army and fight for the people's liberty. As the decision is made, Rey's aunts arrive to find the boys in the midst of their dance and chase them away. Rey's mother appears just in time to rescue him from the angry aunts, but not before he can announce his intention to abandon them all for the rebels. Rey's mother makes him promise to keep the love for her and his homeland in his heart always.

New Year's Day 1958: In a countryside camp the rebels celebrate their victory with the camp leader, Victor. He announces that the New Year begins a new life for Cuba, free from torture, poverty and ignorance. As Victor whips the rebels into a celebratory frenzy, Pepe tells Rey that he has heard some people want to leave the revolutionary movement. Rey, confused why anyone would stop supporting the rebels, suddenly finds himself witnessing the incredible violence that awaits anyone who disagrees with the new leadership. In one terrible moment, his idealistic view of the revolution dies.

Havana Some Years Later: Rey takes Pepe to a secret location to meet Ovidio, an author who hides books banned by the government and who has started a secret circle of readers to keep the literature alive. Pepe voices fears of being caught, but Rey argues that they must do what they can to fight a regime of lies. Ovidio arrives and questions Pepe's loyalties, pointing out that the state persecutes gay artists particularly. He begs Rey to not give in to the state but to continue to write, to speak truth to the lies, and he tells Rey to do whatever it takes to have his work published outside of Cuba. Ovidio offers to introduce him to a couple who will smuggle his books to France. Rey agrees and returns to his room to write, invoking his Muses. After the couple takes his manuscript with them, Pepe arrives to invite Rey to the beach, but Rey is writing again and tells Pepe he will be there shortly. Pepe leaves for the beach, but secretly watches to see where Rey hides his manuscript. When Rey joins Pepe and other men, the police raid the beach; Pepe stalls Rey long enough for the police to arrest the author.

El Morro Castle: Thrown into an interrogation room, Rey once again encounters Victor, but this time as enemies. Victor congratulates the author, but a stunned Rey, who had not heard of the great international success his novel has had, questions Victor how the state can justify suppressing freedom. Victor argues that Rey abused freedom by not praising his patron country and the state must protect itself and its citizens from degenerates. Rey, the author, is not under arrest – Rey, the homosexual, is under arrest. Victor produces Rey's newest manuscript and sets fire to it while demanding the names of those who helped Rey smuggle his writings out of Cuba. Rey refuses to answer and is beaten severely and put into solitary confinement. After a time, Victor pulls Rey out of his cell to witness Ovidio's public confession of betraying the Cuban people with his writings, and he names Reinaldo Arenas as a dangerous criminal. A broken man, Rey signs an agreement to renounce his homosexuality and never again publish without the state's consent.

ACT II:
Havana 1979: Word has spread that anyone within the compound of the Peruvian Embassy will be able to leave Cuba legally. A bus has crashed into the gates and Cubans pour onto the grounds seeking diplomatic immunity. Meanwhile, Rey alone on the beach realizes that the sea is now his jail cell; he is trapped on the island he loved and his Muses have abandoned him. A young man named Lázaro approaches him and recognizes Rey as a famous author. Lázaro, like Rey at one time, longs for a new world, but he finds himself alone and homeless, so Rey allows the young man to move into his apartment with him. Quickly becoming close friends, Lázaro waits to receive his visa so that he can leave Cuba through the Mariel sea port, but as a dissident Rey can never leave. Unexpectedly, Pepe and Ovidio come to see Rey one after the other. Rey ousts Pepe while the traitor tries to justify his actions, but Ovidio begs for forgiveness. Once again the older author encourages Rey to keep writing the truth. After Ovidio departs, Lázaro enters having just received his visa. His joy is tempered when he realizes that he must leave his dear friend behind, but Rey wants Lázaro to experience freedom.

Alone on the street, Rey is accosted by Victor, who smugly congratulates Rey on his good behavior, while other dissidents, like Ovidio, are cowardly enough to commit suicide. Victor orders Rey not to attend the funeral and takes his leave. Recalling that his once beloved home is now his prison, Rey's Muses finally return to plead with him to escape Cuba through the Mariel boatlift. In the visa office, the officer asks him on what grounds he is applying for a visa, and after declaring himself homosexual, he is promised a visa. As he waits to board a boat to the United States, the Muses tell Rey to change his name on the visa so he will not be stopped as a dissident. Rey is the last one allowed aboard, and as the boat pulls away from the dock, Victor arrives too late to stop him. Rey and Lázaro reunite in New York excited to experience true freedom.

Times Square New Year's Day 1987: Inside a café Lázaro worries about Rey, and how he no longer seems happy. Rey enters, haunted by his exile from his homeland. Lázaro tells Rey to accept his new life, accept that he will never return to Cuba, but Rey has met Lázaro at the café to share the news of his medical diagnosis and impending death. Ironically, Rey's death will be caused by lovers not tyrants. Increasingly agitated, Rey begins to hallucinate. In his mind, Victor taunts him, but Rey recalls that he escaped so he could not be silenced any longer. He implores his guardian angel, Ovidio, to give him three years to finish his memoir; Ovidio and the Muses encourage Rey to endure.

Manhattan 1990: Rey finishes his work and entrusts it to Lázaro. Prepared to die, Rey hopes that Cuba will be free one day. Lázaro keeps his promise to help Rey end his suffering with a bottle of poison, and the Muses sing him a lullaby. Lázaro wishes Rey one last goodbye as he casts Rey's ashes, and writings, out into the world.