Chiara is the matriarch of an Italian-descendent family torn apart. After her youngest son moves out, she decides to go along with Alfredo, her husband, on his trips as a salesman in the bars of Serra Gaucha. Their trust in each other breaks down when Chiara finds out about Alfredo's life on the road and he realizes she hides something too. A turtle and decks of cards with put their fifty-year relationship to the test.

A burlesque drama, peppered with sensuality and Catholicism, based on the limited choices faced by women of Italian immigrant descent in the past: marriage or the convent. The term "Burlesque" originated in 17th-century Italy, referring to literary, theatrical, and musical works of a parodic nature intended to satirize the customs of the era. Set in the late 1950s, in the mountainous region of Serra Gaúcha in southern Brazil, Elisete escapes an arranged marriage by entering a convent. There, she discovers rules just as rigid as the ones she tried to avoid. Restless, she begins to challenge the order, influence the other novices, and confront the boundaries between faith, desire, and freedom, moving closer to breaking free from the destiny imposed upon her.