Salsa in the Suburbs is a story about a Latin-American family in Australia. The family has migrated to Western Sydney from Uruguay in the 1970s to escape a repressive military dictatorship. Decades later, Juan, is in his early seventies and a widower. He misses his wife and does not know how to be alone and has become dependent on his daughters, particularly Lola, who lives nearby.

Lola has her own battles living with an anxiety disorder and in her relationship with her Uruguayan musician husband, who connects her with the culture she lost when she migrated as a child. Her younger sister, Betty, is living an alternative lifestyle in Mullumbimby, unlike Lola, who clings to her Uruguayan culture, Betty has removed herself from her cultural roots as she finds it oppressive and stifling.

A third daughter, Malena is living in Italy with her husband. Fed up with Juan’s dependence, particularly on Lola, Betty decides to place a personal ad, in a Spanish paper, on his behalf without asking him, hoping that a new partner, may help him, move beyond his grief and dependency. However, he finds new love walking the dog, a widowed Aboriginal lady called Frances. Their blossoming relationship becomes a trigger for Juan, Lola and Betty recalibrate how they measure their belonging across cultures.