The novel follows the lives of poor sailors around Bahia, and their relationship with the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé, especially the sea goddess Iemanjá.

Sea of Death was written in 1936, the year that Jorge Amado was jailed for the first time, at the age of twenty-four, on charges of being a communist.

He described Sea of Death as a "new vision of the life of the sailors of small sailing vessels on the waterfront of the state capital and the bay".

The lives of the sailors of sloops in the bay from which Bahia gets its name are centred on the mythology surrounding the goddess Iemanjá, the "Queen of the Ocean" or the "Mother of Waters", are central to this novel, which portrays their daily struggle for survival.

They include the black Rufino and his mulatto lover Esmeralda; Francisco, Guma’s uncle, who mends nets; and the foul-mouthed Rosa Palmeirão.