The "edad de la peseta" or silly age is the term used in Cuba for the pre-adolescent period from the age of seven to the age of eleven. Set in 1958 in Havana, the year that culminates the Revolution, ten-year-old Samuel has just arrived in town with his recently divorced mother. They take up residence in the house of his eccentric grandmother Violeta, and Samuel is introduced to a new, mysterious world where Samuel finds himself an adult in comparison to his child-like mother.

Cuba, the mid-80s, anyone diagnosed with HIV/AIDS is sent to a military-run internment camp. Former boxing champion Horacio Romero is assigned to be a personal warden--companion--to troublemaker patient Daniel. Despite their initial distrust and ignorance, the two form a platonic bond that leads them to be better men. The Companion shows the stigma associated for those with HIV/AIDS in the early days of the epidemic--gay and straight. This eye-opening drama finds friendship and compassion during a little-known chapter in Cuban history.