Three lonely drifters follow different paths on the roads of northeastern Minas Gerais, Brazil. A film about the connections between walking and thinking, in which the ever-changing nature of things turns life into a place of mere passing.
The Spanish Infanta Carlota Joaquina is promised to D. João VI at the age of 10. Forced to leave for Portugal, Carlota suffers a great disappointment when she meets her promised prince. With the death of D. José, Carlota Joaquina and D. João VI inherit the Portuguese crown. However, frightened by the French Revolution and the approach of Napoleon's army, they decide to flee to their colony: Brazil.
Grieved over the loss of their daughter, an elderly couple has decided do spend their vacation travelling around Europe. The cab driver who takes them to the airport, Leo, overhears their conversation and decides to profit from their situation: Leo convinces the couple's staff he's their nephew, and invites his friends and girlfriend over for a special summer. Things go awry when his friend Marcelo arrives with a bus full of teenagers, who believe the mansion is actually a summer camp.
In this highly stylized Brazilian drama a sax player fondly remembers one wonderful night spent with his life's love and decides to find her again. He embarks upon a quest through the wild streets of Rio to find her. Along the way he meets an assortment of odd urban underworld characters.
A rock singer goes to Brazil to shoot a video, but winds up getting kidnapped and enduring a number of seemingly bizarre and hilarious events.
Poor people who live in the slums in Rio de Janeiro decide to occupy an empty apartment building in the rich part of the city. Meanwhile, a rich girl falls in love with a poor composer. Based on the musical play "Pobre Menina Rica", by Vinícius de Moraes and Carlos Lyra.
Silvia, whose lover is a talking horse, is threatened by Scipio, her uncle and tutor, and by Marcus and Furius, advisers to the monarch, who aim to overthrow the daughter of the former Roman emperor. Scipio, as a strategy, wants to marry her to Marcus, but she refuses. The advisers, on the other hand, are simultaneously planning a coup against Scipio.
A true friendship develops between Jojô, a prostitute Rosa, and the young Eduardo, who survive on the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Everything goes well until ambition takes over the trio, causing friends to aim for bigger goals, planning a big assault that could cost them their lives.