A small poor community called Javé is under threat of being flooded by a new dam that is being built, and the only way to prevent this is to prove the town's historical value. As most of the inhabitants are illiterate, they have no choice but to ask for the help of Antônio Biá, a man who has been ostracized ever since it was discovered that he had sent out letters with lies about their reputations as a way to keep his job in Javé's seldom-used post office. He now has the task of documenting people's memories of how the city was founded, yet each inhabitant has his or her own version of what happened.

On the porch of a farm, a woman tells stories while cutting and sewing scraps of cloth, creating images that form a towel. There are four stories of humor and magic. The fisherman's wedding with Iara, a mermaid from the rivers. The altar boy of a church that sees the procession of souls. The encounter between a Santa Claus in a store and a street boy and the adventures of Zé Burraldo, a naive guy who always lets himself be carried away by others.

Mateus, his wife Antônia, their three kids and his brother Pedro opened a grocery/bar in Goiânia, Brazil, in 1959, called "Armazém Brazil". But in the opening party, the Police, headed by a violent inspector nicknamed "Capitão", arrive to arrest, with extreme violence, an outlaw known as "Flexa". This violent scene scars the family permanently and becomes the prelude to a tragedy.

Manfredo seeks out a psychiatrist. The doctor insists on knowing his past, but there is something that Manfredo doesn't want to reveal and he abandons treatment. Dr. Pink starts to chase Manfredo and his life turns into hell.

Moments before turning 90 years of age, Alberto remembers his life, lived in Copacabana, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. The film is a comedy about old age nowadays, with Copacabana as a background.

Three brothers embark on a journey that begins with a kinship with Brazil's indigenous tribes, to their creation of South America's largest national park.

In the periphery of São Paulo, the pregnant single mother Cleuza works as maid in the apartment of a middle-class family. Each of her sons has a different unknown father: the oldest, Dênis, has a baby son that lives with his mother and he works as motorcycle courier.