In the time of the "cangaceiros" in the badlands of the Northeast of Brazil, the cruel Captain Galdino Ferreira and his band abduct the schoolteacher Olívia, expecting to receive a ransom for her. However, one of his men, Teodoro, falls in love and flees with her through the arid backcountry chased by the brigands.

Freely inspired by the story of the Ceará native, jangada (traditional fishing boat) leader and abolitionist Francisco José do Nascimento, known as "Dragon of The Sea," who instigated strikes against slavery in the early 1880s. The film is set among the jangada fishermen, on the beaches and dunes of Fortaleza at the end of the 19th century, and narrates the struggle waged against the slave system.