In a remote fishing island in the 50's, Pepito grows up learning the trade of his mother, Rosa, the only midwife capable of delivering the newborn babies of their community. At first, the young son doesn't mind the unusual arrangement, but as he grows older, he begins to resist the role traditionally meant only for women. In time, Pepito's coming of age intersects with the lives of the other islanders, whose beliefs and struggles become critical impetus to his maturity.
The first team-up of Richard Gomez and Carmina Villaruel, playing Ardo and Rosel in this action flick, which is at the same time Ishmael Bernal's last film that is an attack on the religious establishment. Together, they become a part of Manila's petty underworld. After all the ordeals they encounter, they realize that they lost their innocence as they brush with evil and corruption. But they still survive the ordeal and make a new life somewhere else.
Opposites attract when Trixie, a spoiled rich brat, asks Alex, a hardworking taxi driver, to be her boyfriend to appease her grandfather.
Yolly, a flower vendor and her brother Efren, who works as a driver and hired hit man for ruthless money laundering lady Connie, live a hardscrabble and bleak existence in the underbelly of the tourist/fashion district of Manila. Escaping from a violent past from the provinces, the siblings world collide with Connie's gang when Yolly witnesses a rape and murder perpetrated by Connie's son and Efren decides to double cross Connie for her money.
Baby Tsina a famous underworld figure during the 50's who acquired the nickname because of her ivory skin and slanting eyes. She led the police in a frenetic chase before she was convicted for murder. Ironically it was a crime she did not commit. While in jail though she underwent a transformation and led the other inmates in seeking for reforms in the local penal system. An engrossing film with superior performances from the entire cast.