Irene is an agent for an insurance company. She is given the job of investigating the disappearance of an elderly librarian in a provincial town. During her investigations she meets a history teacher - Ricardo - who knew the librarian and is interested in local legends. Irene happens to hear about a very old medieval castle which, according to legend, has a secret entrance that opens mysteriously on Christmas night as the clock strikes twelve.

A young man from a high-bourgeois family, Henrique receives mysterious phone calls from a woman at the barracks where he is serving in the military, which attracts him to meetings without consequences.

Two solitary men embark on a journey to find a missing woman...

Vincent, a young Swiss, is upset by his meeting with the city of Lisbon. He will meet two persons: a prostitute of high flight and a great writer fallen and suicidal.

This symbolic drama from director Benoit Jacques underscores the characters' human need for affection. Children steal lemons for the thrill, while women steal other women's men from them just to prove they can. Drug smuggling, clandestine love affairs, and two lovers involved with the production of Shakespeare's Othello carry on with their own off-stage tragedy.

Dora divides her time between her work as a beautician, her policeman husband António, and her involvement in left-wing politics. A tale of love and how we must learn to cherish it against all odds in the pursuit of happiness.