Rita is a homeless and struggling girl, who lives in an invaded building and is torn between the job of a bakery assistant and the dream of becoming a great dancer, dancing in a samba-rock band. She had been kicked out of the house years earlier by her father, Adalberto, who always beat up her mother, Zizi, and was against her dancing career, fearing it would drive her into prostitution - this fear stemming from the fact that Zizi had been a prostitute before to marry, a secret kept from her daughter under lock and key. Rita is in love with Francisco, who also lives in the building and has never given up on looking for siblings, from whom he was separated as a child in Maranhão. He is Regina's driver and has an affair with her daughter, the spoiled Patricia, who only uses him for her personal pleasure, ashamed of his humble origins, but ends up getting pregnant.