During the Great Depression, Harry Morgan makes a living by taking fishing parties out on the water. Having a boat is useful for other things as well, and Morgan is also smuggling guns, rum, and men between Key West and Cuba. Loosely inspiring the unforgettable 1944 film starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel is notably grittier, as it chronicles Morgan's discovery that he is only an expendable small-timer in the brutal international black market.