Downeast is an experiential story that unfolds over the course of a year-and-a-half in the small lobster village of Prospect Harbor, Maine. It observes the closing of the last remaining Sardine Cannery in the United States that shut down in April 2010. A few months later, Boston-based entrepreneur Antonio Bussone purchased the plant, hoping to re-build a lobster processing facility and rehire the laid-off sardine workers (most of whom are women over 65 years old).
Antonio's troubles begin on the first day he arrives to Prospect Harbor during a town-hall meeting as local politicians oppose his vision of rebuilding the factory with the use of a $200,000 federal grant combined with his investment of more than $2 million dollars. Undeterred, Antonio moves forward, determined to build and operate one of the first lobster factories in the United States.