In 20th-century Brazil, a Catholic priest gets entangled in a web of infidelity and adultery within a dysfunctional marriage. Based on the novel, this movie portrays the struggles faced by an Italian immigrant community.

In the mid-1870s, Jacobina, daughter of German immigrants, became leader of a sect that believed in healing the body by cleansing the soul. After having a divine vision and speaking to Jesus, she changes her appearance and manners, disturbing the conservative population of the place. After the death of opponents of her sect, local authorities decide to take action against her and her followers.

This is a remake of Brazil's first international success in the cinema world. Just as its same name predecessor was, this film is a fictional version of the story of the "cangaceiros." These were bandits who sacked towns and spread terror throughout Northeastern Brazil in the 1930s. This group of outlaws is led by Captain Galdino and his wife Maria Bonita.

Theater director asks his actors for a research on human cruelty and misery in Brazil, while trying to raise funds for his next production, a play based on a story by Machado de Assis, "A Causa Secreta" (The Secret Cause). The troupe oblige and go around town witnessing long lines in National Health Services, inhuman conditions in public hospitals and poor people being constantly humiliated. They find people are becoming indifferent to human suffering.

In the 19th century, rich farmer with a passion for music dreams of having an orchestra. He hires a conductor, to help him organize the musicians. But the man falls in love with his daughter.

Batavo is a simple man living in the interior of RS. The calm of his routine comforts him, but it is the greater cause of the boredom that slaughter his wife, who decides to abandon it and to run away with another man.