Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley move to Paris right after their marriage. Hemingway wants to become a writer. With his earnings as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star, they are able to survive. He meets Pauline Pfeiffer, a rich American fashion journalist who will become a close friend to the young family. The Hemingways spend the winter in the inflation-stricken Austria. Hemingway's first collection of short stories, "In Our Time", is published in the United States. He has taken the first important step. With an entourage of friends, Hemingway travels to the fiesta de toros in Pamplona. His experiences there reappear in his highly successful novel "The Sun also Rises". Back in the Alps, where he has returned with his family to finish work on the novel, Pauline comes to visit. Hadley realizes that this is the beginning of a romance between Hemingway and Pauline.

Travelling to Africa with Pauline, Hemingway starts to fulfill his dream of the Great White Hunter. But severe illness prevents him from being as successful as his fellow hunters. Feverish, he recalls his childhood, the suicide of his beloved father for which he holds his mother completely responsible. Hemingway and Pauline settle in Key West, Florida. Hemingway spends most of his time deep-sea fishing with his companions. He becomes Key West's no. 1 attraction. The Hemingway image starts to grow. His main interest is the active life of a man born for adventure. With the appearance of Martha Gellhorn, a journalist and politically committed writer, Hemingway's interests focus on the rise of fascism in Europe, especially the Spanish Civil War. He decides to leave Pauline and Key West in order to write and make a film about the war in Spain and – ultimately - to see Martha again.

The international community of friends and fighters for freedom and democracy in Spain is disturbed and partly disillusioned. Hemingway links up with Martha, both in his professional and private lives. Upon his return from Spain Hemingway leaves Pauline and sets up house with Martha in Cuba. Here, again, his life is devoted to fishing and drinking. Martha is offered a job as a war correspondent. Hemingway tries to retain her but she is determined to accomplish something on her own. Hemingway also becomes a war correspondent, but he is more interested in fighting. Mary Welsh, likewise a war correspondent, is very attracted to Hemingway. They fall in love and she becomes his wife. The couple settles in Cuba, where Hemingway resumes his prior. Mary gets pregnant but loses her child. Hemingway saves her life by forcing an inexperienced country surgeon to operate on her.

In Venice Hemingway meets Adriana, who becomes the heroine of his next novel, "Across the River and into the Trees". He is greatly attracted to the young woman, but he feels that his time is over. In spite of the humiliation Mary suffers, she stays with him. His novel is torn apart by the critics. With "The Old Man and the Sea" Hemingway regains his self-confidence. Hemingway returns to Africa to reassume the self-imposed image of the Great White Hunter. During a photo-safari by plane he and Mary experience two consecutive plane crashes. Hemingway's health deteriorates due to severe brain damage. Hemingway becomes depressed; his memory no longer serves him. He can no longer write. Hemingway becomes suicidal. He goes into therapy at the Mayo Clinic but is released with doctor's instructions to abstain from all those things which had been essential to him.