"Lula, 'bon vivant' who subsists at the expense of small blows, goes on with his life without a present or future purpose. Basically, he just tries to forget having been abandoned by his fiancee Helena, who gave in to his father's imposition. The situations in which he gets involved from then on are paradoxical, trying to survive in the best possible way and spending money he doesn't have, but which comes to him in one way or another. On a day of complete despair, Lula meets a group of "hippies" and leaves catechized. Willing to anything, he becomes a preacher of new customs and new ethics of life. In turn, Helena, whose marriage had failed, dreams of meeting Lula again, hoping to return to his arms.

A beautiful and poor woman buys herself a rich husband after inheriting a great deal of money.

When a pedestrian is hit by a bus, the simple clerk Arandir runs and kisses the moribund in a gesture of sympathy and unconditional pure love. Opportunist photographer Amado Pinheiro witnesses the scene and sees the opportunity to sell newspaper and, together with the despicable and abusive chief of police Cunha, accuses Arandir of homosexuality.

A poor man from the North Zone of Rio, head of a family, Roy struggles in every way to survive and accepts a job as a professional laugher on a TV station; Casimiro de Abreu de Sousa lives in a fantasy world in which he imagines himself to be part of high society. His daughter's wedding awakens in Casimiro the desire to achieve everything he has always fantasized about.

In the 1930s, a blacksmith is accused of murdering his wife and becomes a hero and political leader.