Brazil, 1889. Two families fight for the control of Ouro Negro, a city in the interior of the state of São Paulo; one defends the established monarchy, the other the new republican ideal. The economy based on the slavery of imported Africans is at the center of the contention, as well as the romantic and lusty affairs of the young members of both families. The Baron is cruel and seems to control everything and everybody, particularly since a half-blind beggar he mistreated, predicted that, "You'll never fall dead!" In Portugal, a pair is about to marry, but the young man gets madly in love with a Portuguese singer, Eugénia Castro (Amália Rodrigues), and follows her to Brazil. The young woman has her heart broken, and soon after her father dies, forcing her to return to Brazil with her mother. Not knowing the whereabouts of each other, they live parallel lives in two near cities without coming together.