A student is surprised after committing a brutal murder and persuaded to spend the night listening to a drunken sailor´s tale. The latter´s adventures in brothels and latin american ports, sailing on what turns out to be a ship of ghosts, take place in the vividly surreal limbo world that Ruiz and his cinematographer have somehow conjured out of slender TV movie resources . The particular magic of 'The three crowns of the sailor' springs from the way it combines high romantic supernatural appeal with a quirky questioning modernism that is Ruiz´s distinctive voice.