It is 1929 in the town of Tampa, Florida. In the run-down cigar factory, owned a
nd operated by Cuban exiles, the cigars are still rolled by hand and 'lectors' a
re employed to read to the workforce while they roll. The arrival of a handsome
new lector straight off the boat from Cuba is a cause for celebration - at least
by the daughters of the owner. But when he begins to read aloud from his favour
ite novel, Anna Karenina, he unwittingly becomes a catalyst in the lives of his
avid listeners, for whom Tolstoy, the tropical heat and the American dream prove
a volatile combination...
