In 1942, at the height of World War Two, Ernest Hemingway sought permission from the U.S. government to operate a spy ring from the Cuban countryside. This much is true.... It is the summer of '42, and FBI agent Joe Lucas has come to Cuba at the behest of J. Edgar Hoover to keep an eye on Ernest Hemingway. The great writer has assembled a ragtag spy ring that he calls "the Crook Factory" to play a dangerous game of amateur espionage. But when Lucas and Hemingway, against all the odds, uncover a critical piece of intelligence -- the game turns deadly....