Based on the memoirs of Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, who was persecuted in Cuba for his political writings and homosexuality, Before Night Falls examines the author's life from childhood to his premature death. After a couple of failed attempts to get to America, Arenas finally manages to make it to New York with his friend Lázaro Gomez Carilles (Martinez), who cares for Reinaldo -- stricken with AIDS -- until Arenas' death (by suicide) in 1990.