cafe con leche

Synopsis: “Café Con Leche”


Mid-life crisis is all too common and beating it while inspiring an entire culture in the process is a rarity. Yet that’s exactly what happens in this tale of disillusionment and re-discovery.

Manny and Gloria Carmona have been married for sixteen years, owning a booming taxi business in New York City.
On the outside, they appear the epitome of self-reliance and success. However, it quickly becomes apparent that the ‘happy’ couple has issues of their own.

Manny feels intimidated and controlled by his hard-driven wife, who manages all business affairs and does not trust them to him. Gloria, for a very good reason, harbors deep suspicions about Manny’s fidelity to her. (He had an affair when she was pregnant with their daughter). Both of them thrive in business; emotionally, they barely make ends meet. So Gloria controls, and Manny hangs on, feeling more and more impotent and incapable as a man.

All this changes, when Juan, (Manny’s estranged twin brother), dies and leaves behind a rundown coffee plantation and a few ex-lovers.

The Carmona’s travel to Puerto Rico and are offered a considerable sum of money to settle the estate by Connie Jensen, an influential American businesswoman, who drives the selling price in her desire to acquire the land for upscale hotels. – much to the chagrin of the local people, whose national pride crumbles under the weight of hotel concrete and powerful developers, like Jensen.

Against his wife’s wishes, Manny refuses to sell and decides to resurrect the plantation as a growing concern.

Going it alone can be a tough proposition – Manny is compelled to buy broken down equipment and employ illegal immigrants for labor, as the native workers are either already employed by Jensen and her high-powered colleagues, or working for American businesses that pay higher wages. Even as he fights to make the plantation a success, he and his wife are growing further apart, both physically as she stays in New York to run the taxi company and he in Puerto Rico, and emotionally as their remaining bonds start to crumble.

Gloria returns to do what it takes to salvage their marriage. However, it seems what is left of her relationship with Manny will die along with his dream of owning a coffee plantation.

The explosive climax in the middle of a furious hurricane, leads towards a fitting resolution to Gloria and Manny’s relationship. And in the process, Manny’s quest inspires a people to rediscover their own sense of self-determination and pride.

Scripts available.

"Phil Betz" IMDBPRO
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