After 20 years of exile in Paris, Gustavo returns to his native city São Paulo. Back home, he encounters a place which no longer exists. His old friends and family members have changed, almost beyond recognition. He tries to recapture the past, and make some sense of his life, that of his friends and family, and the present state of his native country.

In 1908, Titoe leaves her home country of Japan to try her luck in Brazil. Her intention is just to get rich and return in five years, but life has other plans for her.