In eighty-four days he was unable to catch anything. Now the old Santiago feels like he's been struck by a curse. Only the solidarity of the young Manolo and the legendary example of Joe di Maggio, the unbeatable baseball player, will allow him to find the strength to go back fishing in the sea again to mark a symbolic and new initiation. In the desperate hunt for a huge swordfish, and in a fight against the sharks snatching his prey piece by piece, Santiago establishes a true brotherhood with the irrepressible forces of nature and, above all, he finds within himself the sign and presence of his own courage, the justification of a lifetime.