雷蒙（贾维尔•巴尔登 Javier Bardem 饰）在一次跳海运动中出了意外，全身瘫痪。原本英俊壮健的他要在煎熬中度过余生。他忍受着常人无法理解的痛苦中过活了26年，已经无法领会到活着的意义。他一再申请安乐死，却无法获准。他请来律师朱莉娅（贝兰•鲁达 Belén Rueda 饰），这个女人在与雷蒙的相处中慢慢认同了他的观点，她不幸也身患绝症，二人更加惺惺相惜。朱莉娅承诺帮雷蒙出版诗集后，就和他一同赴死。
有一个少妇知道了雷蒙的经历，力劝他不要放弃生命，并深深爱上这个不幸的人。然而，这一切都无法把雷蒙从瘫痪的煎熬中重生过来。然而他还等着朱莉娅一起告别这个世界。

This is a feature-length documentary on Mar adentro, or The Sea Inside, found on the DVD of it. It's rather well-done, and provides good insight into the making of it. It holds a few clips from the movie, but consists almost entirely of interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, inter-cut. You get to see every stage of development and creation, including co-script-writer, Mateo Gil... one has to wonder why there is so little of him, was he just not present, much or at all, during the later periods, because he sure was fun to listen to. Pre-production, filming, post, and an appropriate amount of time and attention spent on each portion of the three parts. The pacing is relatively deliberate, fitting for its subject. I got even more respect for Bardem from watching this. I got the sense that Amenábar has matured, going away from the genre of horror(I am in no way passing judgment, I have a great amount of respect for both that genre and his earlier work), and would say that it will be interesting to see what he brings us in the future. As the other material on the disc, this is subtitled. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys the piece itself, are fans of Alejandro and/or are interested in the craft, even as just a hobby.