If Manolin could choose, he would go fishing with Santiago... Did not the old man teach him the love of the sea by taking him to the high seas when he was barely five years old? Did he not pass on all his knowledge of the lines, baits and fish? But the old fisherman has become sala: luck has abandoned him, and it has been several weeks since he returned to the port with his empty boat. So Manolin's parents send their son on another boat. However, every evening, the teenager finds his old friend, together they prepare the next day's fishing, this fishing which may give him a dorade, a tuna, or even a shark or a silver swordfish. Coming a day when, in fact, the old man meets his fish. The man and the animal will then face each other in a long and bitter duel that will last several days and nights...