Noronha is a low middle-class civil servant who lives with his frustrated wife Gorda and their three elder daughters. The youngest one, virginal Silene, is unexpectedly sent back home. Noronha discovers she has been expelled from boarding school for having killed a female cat and her seven newborns in a hysterical fit. Many dark family secrets will emerge from that episode leading to tragic events.

After breaking off her engagement on her wedding day and going directly to a prostitution house, a young model becomes the city's most famous harlot, known as "Hilda Hurricane", in the 50's Brazil. She could do fine if it wasn't for Malthus, a young novice said to be a saint, for whom she falls in love. However, the boy is kept under the strict, severe doctrine of Father Nelson, a conservative priest intolerant even to every minor sin. Things start getting harder when Roberto, Malthus' old friend and a communist reporter (the actual author of the story), tries to interview Hilda and disclosure the real reasons behind her radical change of mind. In the meantime, the middle-classes are terrified by the "leftist threat" in Brazilian politics.

A trajetória de Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, o Tiradentes (Humberto Martins), líder da Inconfidência Mineira, um movimento surgido em Vila Rica (Ouro Preto) em 1789. Tiradentes sonhou junto com amigos e intelectuais ver o Brasil independente do domínio português, mas esbarrou na traição de Joaquim Silvério dos Reis (Rodolfo Bottino).