On November 25, 1999, a five-year-old Cuban boy was plucked from the shark infested waters off Florida, and what began as a Thanksgiving story soon erupted into a political and social firestorm that transfixed the nation and rocked Miami's Cuban-American community to its core. FRONTLINE examines the passion and the purpose behind the battle over Elin Gonzalez and its effect on both the Miami community and the Cuban-American cause. With footage from Miami and Cuba, and interviews with participants and observers on both sides of the controversy, the documentary explores how one little boy became a symbol of a forty-year struggle for the future of a nation.