Mario Ruoppolo is a fisherman who is allergic to fish. He takes another job a special postman on the small Italian island on which he lives. He has only one client on his mail route, the Chilean poet and political exile Pablo Neruda, who lives high above the town. Mario becomes intrigued with Neruda and Neruda's poetry, which he uses to woo the girl he loves, Beatrice Russo. Mario takes seriously Neruda's advice to observe closely the world around him, but he cannot produce the poetry he wants to make. A friendship develops between the two men, and Neruda is the best man at the wedding of Mario and Beatrice. When Neruda wins the Nobel Prize, he learns that his exile has been lifted, and he makes plans to return home to Chile. His influence on Mario is profound however, and because of his poetry Mario becomes involved in a political demonstration with tragic results. Unaware of the effect he has had on Mario who he has apparently forgotten, Neruda returns to the island to face the consequences of what he had thought was some casual instruction in the art of poetry.