In a dog-eat-dog world, Raimundo Nonato has found an alternative way to move ahead: he cooks. No matter what social strata this deceptively innocent young man inhabits, he hones his skills and sharpens his knives—and then he falls in love. Jorge's nimble comic fable provides a smartly constructed gastronomic allegory for ambition and survival.

Heitor is a bachelor who shoots fancy weddings for a living, but gets in trouble when he meets Penélope, a woman desperate to stop her lover's wedding.

Commander Vasco Moscoso de Aragão entertains the small town of Periperi with the stories of his many adventures travelling around the world as a captain of the merchant navy. Stubborn Chico Pacheco is the only one in town who doesn't believe his tales.