Víctor, a widowed father, and his small daughter Julia, leave Spain when Barcelona falls into the hands of Franco army in January 1939. In France they are met with concentration camps and destitution. But there is one possibility of escape: to set sail on the Winnipeg, a cargo ship chartered by Neruda and the Parisian Quakers, taking them to the safety of a new destination: Valparaíso, Chile, where a fresh start may await them.