A Saint Lucian-Cuban family has only one child, 18-year-old Gloria Grace Estevez. They love her enough to send her away, hiring a fisherman to smuggle Gloria to America, where she can make her own way—and perhaps make way for them.

Using their life savings, hope and faith, they paid Juan U.S. $2,000 and another $500 for his contact in Key West, who will help Gloria until she can find a job. If she survives, that is.

Traversing the Gulf of Mexico across the Florida Straits in a canoe, they evade the U.S. Coast Guard and Cuban authorities. But they can’t escape choppy seas and unforeseen circumstances.