Caseli, a young writer and teacher, creates in his imagination characters who would frequent a motel, the subject of the book he is writing. He and Dilma, his student, decide to spend a night in a motel in Rio, where eight couples meet: - Fábio, visual artist and Stefânia, fashion editor of a magazine; - Ferraz, flirtatious dentist and his secretary Cleonice, shy and virgin; - Vera, wife of Ferraz and Kiko, big boy from Ipanema; - Leopoldo and his wife, an elderly couple celebrating their golden anniversary; - Detective Camilo and his assistant Dorô, who try to catch Vera in the act of adultery; - Renato, on vacation from São Paulo and Cláudia, a woman he recently met in Rio; - Gustavo and Lazinha, a couple who use extravagant artifices to achieve sexual fulfillment. In the middle of the night, the corpse of an unknown man appears, and the arrival of the police determines the most diverse outcomes for those who were looking for just one night of love.

The story of Antônio Francisco Lisboa, the famed Brazilian sculptor and architect born in the 17th century who became known as "Aleijadinho".

Five criminals captured by Detective Lincoln Monteiro escape from the penitentiary, seeking revenge on enemies and traitors. Niquelzinho and Paulo Cabeleira kill bookmakers, while Maurilão, Chico Preto, and Mico Sujo commit several robberies. Lincoln, always refusing to adopt his colleague Morelli's doctrine of violence, receives other police missions: to solve the murder of two tourists, the marijuana spill at a school, and the capture of criminal Carlinhos Capeta.