Nineteen-year-old Julio heads to Lisbon from the provinces and gets a job as a shoemaker for his uncle Raul. But when he meets Ilda, a confident young housemaid who becomes a regular shop visitor, his working-class values collide with the bourgeois trappings of modern life.

João and Jaime work as taxi drivers for the same company. But, once the company's vault is robbed by Raul, the manager's son, João is the one to blame.

The life of Fernando Farinha, from kid where he ran away to school - to sing the fado, and the condescension of the parents, although aspiring to have an "honest" job.