After being released from prison, Dr. Nise da Silveira is back at work in a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Rio de Janeirom where she refuses to employ the new and violent electroshock in the treatment of schizophrenics. Ridiculed by doctors, she is forced to take on the abandoned Sector for Occupational Therapy, where she would start a revolution through paintings, animals and love.

Adapted from his autobiography, the film recounts the story of Hiroito, The King of Boca do Lixo (a region in downtown São Paulo of the fifties where various nightclubs, strip joints, prostitution, bars, and drugs can be found). Hiroito was a well born bohemian and at the age of 21 was accused for the murder of his father, who was violently stabbed over 40 times with a razor. Hiroito was not charged, however two months after the death of his father, Hiroito bought two guns and moved to Boca do Lixo and became one of the most dangerous criminals of the region.

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers’ pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio’s favelas.