After being orphaned, a boy is raised by his grandfather and uncles, rich rural landowners, on a sugarcane plantation where he grows up, studies, learns about politics, love and disillusionment.

Brazilian director Julio Bressane directs this religious biography on the life and work of Saint Jerome, the monk who first translated the Bible into Latin. Set both in the desert and in the posh confines of the Vatican, Jerome (Everaldo Pontes) agonizes over which Latin word would best fit its Hebrew counterpart. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

In a city in the Brazilian northeastern backwoods, the political chief is assassinated by a professional gunman. From there, the city begins to live the climate of the event. The killer, concealed by important people, is hidden in the house of a humble family. Time passes and the gunslinger leaves his hiding place, being killed soon after. Also the family that hid the criminal is assassinated, as well as the judge who was conducting the investigation of the murder of the political chief.