A young man from Rio who, down on his luck in the capital, takes a job as manager of a sugar mill in the country, where he finds love with the mill owner’s daughter. The former manager, who had been demoted for incompetence, becomes jealous and tries to sabotage the mill.

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, in Belo Horizonte, the industrial Sampaio lives in a manor house with his stepdaughter Carmen, who has a sort of engagement with Roberto...