After losing his son in WW2, a poor cobbler has become a drunkard and laughing stock of the whole neighborhood, besetting his daughter. When his daughter falls in love with a rich young man, he tries in vain to hide his passion from the young man's family...

Madalena is a tough seventeen-year-old who is forced to take on her father's ferry business after he dies. She has her many brothers and sisters to support, and there is no one else to do the job. So she rallies her defenses and sets out to give her rival in the ferry business a run for his money. But at the same time, the rival's handsome son is starting to look better and better. Madalena refuses to acknowledge her feelings for him -- though how long she can sustain that denial is the question.