The film is set in Morro do Vidigal, one of the most famous favelas in Rio de Janeiro. Rita needs to give her son Léo a party that means a lot to her. But on the day of the party, she discovers that all the money for the event, which she had been saving for months, was stolen by Dudu. From this disappointment, Rita, who works at the beach, needs to race against time to make Léo's party possible and save Dudu's life. To do this, she will need the help of her friends.

During an attempted robbery, the daughter of the lawyer Carla's is shot and in serious condition. With no answers, Carla tries to move on with her life by seeking help from support groups. Unable to accept his daughter's fate and the lack of solutions on the part of the police, he transforms the search for justice into a search for revenge and tests his own limit to see how far he could go.

Five undercover cops at Complexo do Alemão, one of Rio de Janeiro's most dangerous areas, have their covers blown by drug dealers. Arrested, they wait execution or to be rescued by police forces that would risk expose a larger operation.

After a bloody invasion of the BOPE in the High-Security Penitentiary Bangu 1 in Rio de Janeiro to control a rebellion of interns, the Lieutenant-Colonel Roberto Nascimento and the second in command Captain André Matias are accused by the Human Right Aids member Diogo Fraga of execution of prisoners. Matias is transferred to the corrupted Military Police and Nascimento is exonerated from the BOPE by the Governor.

Situated just above the awe-inspiring Ipanema beach in Rio is the Cantagalo slum. Every day, floods of Cantagalo residents make their way down the mountain, only to disappear into their surroundings as part of the invisible working-class that cleans apartments, works in restaurants, and sells food along the scenic, sun-drenched shores. Young Dé (Thiago Martins) is just such a man. Dé lives with his mother Bernadette (Cyria Coentro) in a cramped Cantagalo apartment, selling hot dogs on the beach in order to make the rent. His brother Beto was killed when Dé was just a young boy, and his adopted brother Carlão (Rocco Pitanga) has been jailed for a robbery that he didn't commit. One day, while working on the beach, Dé meets Nina (Vitória Frate). Nina is the only child of a successful lawyer named Evandro (Paulo César Grande), who's none to happy to discover that his daughter is dating a member of the lower class. How...

Two brothers, one straight one gay reopen old childhood issues.

The series is based on the award-winning Brazilian film City of God, which itself was nominated for Oscars in four categories, including Best Director for Fernando Meireles. Based on the story of two friends, Laranjinha and Acerola, who live adventurous and dangerous lives in a Rio de Janeiro slum, 'City of Men' brings into sharp relief the condition of children and adolescents in these areas, realistically yet with a dose of humor.

In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.