An independent private security firm arrives at a middle-class neighborhood in Recife, Brazil.

Curral is a political drama set in the rural Brazilian city of Gravatá. During the mayoral elections, the population is divided between the Blue and Red parties, two political oligarchies fighting each other for power. A recent severe drought means water is the main bargaining chip when it comes to securing a majority of people's votes. Chico Caixa is a former city employee. He lost his job trying to take water supplies to a poor neighborhood which had been abandoned for political reasons. Caixa is invited by a childhood partner, Joel, to work on his councilor campaign. Joel presents himself as a new alternative to the older candidates, who have been in power for decades. But as the campaign progresses, Chico Caixa soon realizes that breaking apart from the established political game is not always as easy as it may seem

Cris, aged 12, and her brother are left at the side of the road by their parents. The punishment quickly turns into an even greater challenge.

Iara, a 12-year-old girl, dreams of playing football. But her father, lost between the new challenges of his daughter's age and machismo, forbids the young girl from achieving her own dream.

Paralysed by fear of the future, a middle aged French bureaucrat escapes to Brazil where a destructive affair with a boy forces her to learn to live in the present.

Brazil, 1977. Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run. Hoping to reunite with his son, he travels to Recife during Carnival but soon realizes that the city is not the safe haven he was expecting.