The tragedy of a woman who - after seven years of vain searches - gave up hope of finding her husband, a knight lost in battle in Marroc with Sebastião, king of Portugal. She marries, has a daughter by her second husband, and endures the silent reproach of an aid, Telmo Pais, the only who kept his hope that his master shall return, as well as the king... One day, a mysterious pilgrim arrives at the mansion.

After losing her father in the sea, Rosa is lodged in the house of the lighthouse keeper João Vidal. António Gaspar, also a lighthouse keeper, loves Rosa. His jealousy of João Vidal will provoke the death of Rosa, an act that the mother of António will help to cover up.

Based on the novel of the same name, by Júlio Dantas, this is the first Portuguese all-talking sound film, dramatization of the story of the Fado singer Maria Severa Onofriana, known as A Severa.