When chain gang prisoners attack their guards, some of the hardened criminals escape Brazil's infamous Anchieta Prison amidst all the pick-ax carnage. The government dispatches a machine-gun squad to round up the fugitives, who have fled by foot and boat and now have begun to turn on each other.

On a scorching summer day in Rio de Janeiro, five impoverished black boys venture out of their favela to peddle peanuts throughout the bustling city. As they navigate the various districts of Rio, they bear witness to a series of unfortunate events and encounters, unfolding a vivid tapestry of urban life in Rio de Janeiro during that period. These true misadventures shed light on the gritty reality of the city, unveiling its vibrant urban tapestry.

Maos Sangrentas translates to Bloody Hands in English, and that's just what this gruesome Brazilian melodrama delivers. The story begins when a gang of dangerous convicts escape from a penal colony. With the police in hot pursuit, the escapees cut a gory swath through the countryside. As his comrades are killed off one by one, the leader of the group descends into gibbering madness. In contrast to this, a subplot develops involving the least dangerous of the escapees, who murdered his wife in a peak of self-righteous rage and is now seriously in doubt about the wisdom of his deed. Principal scenes reworked in 1962 to make the film The Violent and the Damned (q.v.).

A poor girl must find the money to pay for her blind sister's eyesight operation.

A love triangle between two quarry workers in Serra da Cantareira and the daughter of a third local employee. Amid unsanitary conditions and difficulties of all sorts, tragedy strikes the three and the clash between the two men becomes inevitable.