The sierras of southern Brazil, 1963. The son of an French man and a Brazilian woman, Tony is a young man with a profound love of cinema and poetry. After graduating from college he returns to his small town in rural Brazil, to find out that his father had left for good, back to France. Tony then looks for the company of his fathers friends in search of information and references of a lost male role-model. He becomes a school teacher and a male figure to kids, in an attempt to provide them with something he lacks himself. A series of developments lead him to a surprising final lead on his fathers' whereabouts and reasons for leaving.

Vicente, a tax collector, is sent to a distant region to defy the dominion of Melo, a powerful landowner. When Melo's henchmen burn down the collector's office building, the government retaliates by deploying soldiers, overseen by Carvalho, a hard-headed judge. Carvalho orders the soldiers to invade Melo's land, which prompts the start of a full-blown war.

According to an Amazonian legend, every month, during the full moon, a Brazilian fishing village receives a mysterious guest: the Boto, who transforms into a human to seduce and be loved by women and hated by men. One of her conquests is the daughter of a fisherman, who has a son with the Boto. He constantly reappears to seduce her, and even when she marries, he continues to look for her. This provokes the ire of the husband, who wants to kill him anyway.

A series of murders begins to haunt Cordilheira, a small town near São Paulo, Brazil. The investigations show there is a love triangle involved.