Paulo Otávio is the host of a pirate radio station on the slums of Rio de Janeiro. He struggles to mantain the station working, since the only help he's got comes from news reporter Calói. Their story goes beyond as the city starts to face a crime wave.

In a crime-plagued area of Rio de Janeiro, a team of honest cops, including a determined rookie, fights corruption and mistrust on all sides.

Mid-1970s. When the military regime's "economic miracle" and the victory of the Brazilian football team on the World Cup serve as a distraction for the persecution of opposition leaders by the political police of the dictatorship. Under this context, Jofre Godoi da Fonseca, an alienated middle-class man, is mistaken for Sarmento, a political activist he met at an airport prior to his assassination. He is then arrested for being "subversive".

Ali Baba falls for a former trapeze artist who was paralyzed in an accident and wants to get money to make the girl recover their health. Ali Baba discovers a hidden deposit of 40 thieves, and finds many bars and diamonds too fake money.

In 1997, before the visit of the pope to Rio de Janeiro, Captain Nascimento from BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) is assigned to eliminate the risks of the drug dealers in a dangerous slum nearby where the pope intends to be lodged.