"You can't have a revolution without songs." Salvador Allende

Sent away to school against his wishes, thirteen-year-old Elian Alonzo finds himself caught up in his fellow students' admiration for a notorious guerrilla hiding in the nearby mountains. This politician and lawyer-turned-revolutionary was once a student in the school Elian now attends. His name is Fidel Castro.

As he approaches graduation, Elian faces a dilemma he can't resolve. His father insists he study engineering at MIT in the United States. Elian, on the other hand, wants to study music in Havana. After a bitter clash with his father, Elian abandons his easy middle-class life and joins the guerrillas. Here, he soon becomes a courier for Fidel. In camp, he entertains his fellow guerrillas with his guitar and songs of sacrifice and longing.

The impossible path to victory becomes first unlikely and then a fait accompli. Now what? Elian wonders. He has no interest in becoming part of Fidel's military or gaining some kind of government post. Instead, he follows his dream of attending music school. Successful beyond his imagining, Elian becomes the troubadour for the Cuban Revolution, touring all of Latin America and Europe. His personal life, however, is plagued by sorrow--a bitter divorce, the deaths of his lover and younger brother, and his parents' desperate flight to Brazil. Now, his songs are dirges devoid of optimism, annoying Fidel, who makes his displeasure known.

Burnt-out and disappointed in the revolution, Elian leaves Cuba and settles in a mid-sized city on Spain's southeastern coast. As time passes, Elian heals and rediscovers both his optimism and his love for his homeland.