Meia-Lua used to be a sailor, but he now makes a poor living smuggling. He is a cynical man, who doesn't care for Ana or for the child they had together. He lives with the beautiful Marlene who dances in the bars. Gull spends her whole days lulling a doll in her arms, and she waits for her love that will rise from the depths of the sea. The deaf musician Sparrow watches over her, in his despaired love and long-held wish of becoming a sea captain. There is a dispute down the piers, there is a crime that might be just an accident, there is a bad conscience that turns sour, there is a boat full of poor wretches like a rocking lullaby, a baby that passes from arms to arms, a clumsy beggar that finds some work, a courthouse of tramps... From this expressionist account that has unexpected comical moments, the censors from Salazar's regime cut away 20 minutes that were never to be found again.

A typesetter is an amateur stage director, and his niece and an employee are stage actors. When they have an opportunity to go professional, differences arise between the two men. Things get worse when the employee starts seeing the girl even when there is no need for rehearsals - and the uncle opposes their relationship.

A man afflicted by an inferiority complex, is helped out by his comrades to pass the tests to enter the navy. A girl accepts to show a fake love interest in him as part of the plan, and ends up really enamoured.

In Madragoa, Zé Luís, a man of the people devoted to his work, is in love with Clara, the daughter of Santana das Carnes, his godfather and protector, who intends to marry her to D. Eusébio with the intention of financing his business. When Santana discovers the romance, he fires Zé Luís and forces him to break it off, convincing him that he owes his marriage to Margarida, a young woman of the same upbringing. Zé Luís finds employment at the docks, Margarida dies of illness, Santana goes bankrupt... Zé Luís supports him with initiative and money from his father, who has meanwhile returned from Africa, and ends up marrying Clara.

Professor Hermes conducts a research on fear, for which he passes contract with a patient to live a supposedly empty mansion. He's counting on his assistant Chico Mota to play a phantom, but soon comes about that there are phantoms (plural) in there.

Ana Maria loves a modest guitar player, Júlio; when she herself in a 'retiro' (typical fado tavern), public and critics rend major applause. Fame brings about new friends, namely bohemian young who play and sing the fado with her, and not so young men but who rich and powerful enough to patronize her, promote her, and wish to become intimate with her. Júlio the guitarist feel betrayed, and he sets his mind to depart to the African colonies, to leave her forever. Knowing that he's going to embark, Ana Maria's heart between her first love, and the appeal of the rich and famous.

Adriana, an orphan who has been raised in a well off family, becomes pregnant after being seduced by a man. Outraged, Mr. Bento kicks her our of home. What he doesn't realize is that her seducer is his own son, Raul, a brilliant law student.

Caleidoscope of documentary-like scenes and re-enacted episodes of a day in the life of a large port town – Lisbon, from the old district around Saint George's Castle down to the docks and the 'Sagres' on the Tagus river, to the new commercial districts.

A famous singer conducts two relationships at once, with a businesswoman and her secretary. He marries the woman, has children from both, and all goes well for him until one fateful day, when his two sons come to know that he is parent of both, at school.