A novel set in Key West and Cuba during the Great Depression. Harry Morgan, a fishing boat captain, is struggling to support his family and turns to risky and illegal work running passengers and goods across the water. The book follows his increasingly dangerous choices, set against the idleness of wealthy yachtsmen nearby. It looks at poverty, desperation and self-reliance, and contrasts those who have with those who have not. It is rougher and more episodic than Hemingway's other novels, and shows his interest in social questions of the 1930s.