In vivid images, the documentary-like story of a drover and his family in the northern badlands of Brazil during the drought. A family in the search of new hope and destiny.

Carlos, a married lawyer, gets involved with one of his clients. But the relationship turns into an obsession. The woman understands she'll never manage to separate Carlos from his wife, and decides to leave him, running away with another man.

During the Carnival, in Niterói, the son of a Lira do Delírio nightclub dancer is kidnapped. With the help of a journalist friend, she dives into Rio de Janeiro's underworld and meet all kind of criminals. She also goes back in time, to a past carnival, where she thinks she might pin-point the culprit among a group of people.

Edson is having an affair with actress Maria do Rosário, who dreams of being a movie director. So he tries to get some easy money for her film, but is arrested and meets a police torturer instead.

Solange is a recently married young woman whose wedding night did not end well. After constant fights with her husband, she decides to live through her sexual frustration by sleeping with strangers she picks up on crowded buses in Rio de Janeiro.

Noronha is a low middle-class civil servant who lives with his frustrated wife Gorda and their four eldest daughters. The youngest one, virginal Silene, is unexpectedly sent back from boarding school after killing a female cat and her seven newborns in a hysterical fit. Many dark family secrets will emerge from that episode leading to tragic events.

Country boy arrives in Rio de Janeiro, looking for a better life, but he finds it extremely difficult to get a job, and even has to work as a pimp in order to survive.

Three young men from the beach neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro lead a carefree life, in spite of having no money. After meeting Denise, who presently turns out to be Dênis (a man), they start to learn some tricks and their lives begin to change.

In Buenos Aires, Frederico hides in a ship going to Rio de Janeiro to travel for free. But Azulão, the cook, finds him and blackmails him into working in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Alberto, the captain, receives a radio message saying that there was a dangerous international spy on board. Things get worse when some passports are mixed-up.

Despite being promised to another man, a young orphaned woman falls in love with man working at the farm she lives in , and together they escape. According tradition in Northeast Brazil, her aunt goes after them, in order to kill them for revenge.