Maos Sangrentas translates to Bloody Hands in English, and that's just what this gruesome Brazilian melodrama delivers. The story begins when a gang of dangerous convicts escape from a penal colony. With the police in hot pursuit, the escapees cut a gory swath through the countryside. As his comrades are killed off one by one, the leader of the group descends into gibbering madness. In contrast to this, a subplot develops involving the least dangerous of the escapees, who murdered his wife in a peak of self-righteous rage and is now seriously in doubt about the wisdom of his deed. Principal scenes reworked in 1962 to make the film The Violent and the Damned (q.v.).

Disagreements between brothers and marital infidelity are just some of the consequences that the discovery of a valuable diamond causes.

A poor girl must find the money to pay for her blind sister's eyesight operation.

Epitácio is the driver of a widower musical entrepreneur. Concerned with the boss' happiness, Epitácio tries to find him a wife and introduces him to Lucy, the children's teacher, who dreams of becoming a singer.