A coming of age story about a boy in RIo de Janeiro, Brazil who, after his father's death, finds out about his family and where he came from.

Elisa is a journalist who becomes romantically involved with Hugo, a director of the company Jota Mineração, when she receives an order to write a story about the company. However, the relationship between the two begins to destabilize when the company that Hugo runs begins to extract gold from indigenous lands.

Little known actor, Jack Noah, is working on location in the dictatorship of Parador at the time the dictator dies. The dictator's right hand man, Roberto, makes Jack an offer he cannot refuse.. to play the dictator. Jack's acting skills fool the masses but not close friends and employees of the dictator.

When a dying man receives a kiss from a bereaved man who tries to save him, the man is jailed as a homosexual. He is released from jail, but his life has been ruined by the incident -- and the man eventually is killed by his own father-in-law. The kiss that resulted in the eventual persecution and death of the man is never shown in this plodding, downbeat drama.