Costa further dealt with the now-defunct shanty district in his next two films, In Vanda's Room (2000) and Colossal Youth (2006).
Plot
Tina is a young mother who has given birth to a newborn baby. She stays in a shanty apartment within the Fontainhas district with her unnamed deadbeat live-in partner. Her sister Clotilde, who works as a housemaid, stays at a nearby apartment with her daughter, Mauda. One afternoon, the father searches for food at a local market and takes meals from a local diner. At nighttime, the father wanders alone on the street, while Tina is feeling suicidal. She places a decompressed gas cylinder beside her and the baby. The father returns home, and Tina drags him into a nearby room to be near her and the baby. Meanwhile, Clotilde stares silently in her apartment.
The next morning, Tina leaves the child in the care of the father. Having not eaten in three days, he asks for food from locals on the street, while holding his child. A woman (later known as Eduarda) feeds the father and the baby a sandwich and milk from a nearby deli. Shortly after, the baby is taken to a hospital for immediate care. He goes outside and sits on a bench. He is approached by a nurse, who recommends her colleague, Eduarda. At nightfall, he returns to the hospital where Eduarda informs him the baby is quite ill. He goes outside to smoke, where Eduarda tells him a pediatrician is arriving the next day to run medical tests on the child. The father goes to Eduarda's apartment, where she feeds him a meal.
The next morning, Tina stays over at Clotilde's apartment. Back at Eduarda's apartment, she asks the father about Tina; he responds Tina does not care about being a mother. Eduarda takes the child to her apartment and becomes its new caregiver. Meanwhile, Clotilde looks after Tina. The father returns and briefly converses with Clotilde. The father is given custody of his child again.
Later on, Eduarda hires Clotilde as a housemaid five days a week. That same night, Tina searches for Clotilde but she is approached by her husband. Clotilde returns, stating she now works for Eduarda. Sometime later, Tina arrives at Eduarda's apartment, but finds no one is there. Instead, she finds a list of cleaning instructions Eduarda had written for Clotilde. Hours later, Eduarda returns from work where she finds Tina lying unconscious in the kitchen from another suicide attempt. Tina recovers, and Eduarda offers to have Tina stay with her. Simultaneously, the father stays with a prostitute, who offers to care for the child.
Eduarda comes to Tina's apartment where she finds her alone. They bond while smoking cigarettes. Clotilde returns to clean Eduarda's apartment. She returns home, and she and Tina have a moment together at Tina's apartment. Clotilde leaves and Tina shuts her door.
