Two neighboring villages fight over control of a stream to water their lands.

Jorge, a successful engineer and employee of a ministry and Luísa, a romantic and dreamy girl, star as the typical bourgeois couple of the Lisbon society of the 19th century.

João Ratão is one of many young Portuguese soldiers fighting in Flandres, France, during World War I. Back home, he now needs to fight for the love Vitória, to whom he sent love letters from France... written by a fellow soldier. João Ratão is illiterate.