About people who live by the margins or Rio Tietê, in São Paulo, Brazil.
Transposition of the classical play "Hamlet" to the Brazilian rural scenery. Farmer's son returns home after his father's death and can't stand the thought of his mother marrying his uncle.
The saga of rural women who decide to leave the countryside and get into prostitution. Their miserable lives are marked by fortuitous meetings with truck drivers, pimps, thieves and lunatics.
Chief of Police Rui, a happily married man of principles, is in charge of investigating Joana, a teacher who's accused of political crimes. After some false starts, he manages to arrest her...