A small-town school teacher leads an apparently normal life, including a longtime boyfriend. But she secretly has several lesbian affairs until the women in her life start being brutally murdered.

André is the powerful owner of an illegal casino and popular gambling ("Jogo de Bicho") on the streets. His gang is in war against the gang of Fiore that is trying to steal the gambling establishments of André. When the prostitute Margot sees her old friend and ex-con Sarja working as a waiter in the casino where she tricks clients, she invites him to stay with her in her apartment. When André, who is gay, sees the handsome Sarja, he falls in love with his employee that becomes his protégée. Meanwhile, Sarja and Margot plot to steal the high stakes on St George's Day and they invite André's henchman Lobão and two gangsters to participate in the heist. Meanwhile Fiore also plots to steal André's money with his gang.

In the early seventies in Rio de Janeiro, detective Mariel Moryscötte de Mattos belonged to a special police force called "The Golden Men". This powerful group of the elite of the police was created with the intention of eliminate crime from Rio de Janeiro, and they had privileges above law to expedite their action against the outlaws. However, absolute power in wrong hands corrupts, and this group formed the "Death Squad", executing criminals without the conventional trial from the justice.