Two couples have their destinies intertwined after their happiness is unexpectedly interrupted. This is the starting point of the telenovela, which shares the same name as the São Paulo neighborhood where the story takes place. Solano Xavier is a man of humble origins who never had the chance to obtain a formal education. Unemployed for months, he celebrates with his wife Eugênia the fact that he has landed a temporary job as a truck driver. She reciprocates the good news by telling him she is pregnant. Solano, however, falls victim to a trap: unknowingly, he is transporting contraband goods on one of his trips. Detained by the police, he is arrested, tried, and sentenced to 17 years in prison. Throughout the telenovela, Solano discovers that Arthur is the main person responsible for the scheme that led to his imprisonment.

When her husband dies, Elisa asks Guerreiro if she can join his gang of bank robbers. She soon gains notoriety in the press with the nickname Lili Carabina, but is relentlessly pursued by an honest police officer.

Anjo, a millionaire playboy who moonlights as a crime fighter, leaps into action when his arch-nemesis, the Scarlet Scorpion, kidnaps a beautiful fashion designer.

The fictional encounter in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (in the 30s) between popular songwriter Lamartine Babo and inconoclast poet and playwright Oswald de Andrade.

O Cortiço é um filme brasileiro de 1978, do gênero drama, dirigido por Francisco Ramalho Jr., com roteiro baseado no livro homônimo de Aluísio Azevedo. A personificação de um cortiço no Rio de Janeiro no fim do século XIX e o dia-a-dia de seus humildes moradores, todos pertencentes às mais baixas classes de trabalhadores e personalidades da época.