Defiant Souls

In the year of 1819, the Swiss doctor and surgeon Enrique Faber embarks on a journey to Cuba to find his son, who has been kidnapped by one of his aunts. When the doctor arrives on Cuban soil, he is horrified to discover that his son and the aunt are dead, having been killed during a slave's riot. Enrique decides to remain in Baracoa with the goal of learning about Cuban traditions and culture so that he can finally understand the complexity of the country's society and politics. Once established in the community, the doctor meets a woman called Juana de Leon, a poor native from the island whom Enrique tends to when she comes to him with her health concerns. The two end up marrying, and the combination of their union and Enrique's anti-slavery convictions gives rise to a series of problems that hit their highest point of tension when the couple's secret is uncovered after three years of marriage: Enrique was born as a woman, yet decided to dress as a man to be able to fulfil their passion of becoming a doctor, a profession that was barred to women. Now, Enriqueta Faber, as she is once again known, steps up to fight in one of the most famous and scandalous trials of colonial history what will effect change in Cuba's society of the time.