Camilo Castelo Branco

The tragic story of the many lives of Father Dinis, his dark origins and his pious works, and the different fates of all those who, trapped in a sinister web of love, hate and crime, cross paths with him through years of adventure.

Lisbon, 1938. Mr. Pereira is the editor of the culture section of an evening paper. Although fascism is on the rise in Europe, like in nearby civil war Spain or even inside Portugal itself in the form of Salazar's regime, Pereira only concerns himself with writing bios and translating French novels. Things change after he hires a young writer as his assistant, getting to know also his girlfriend – both opponents to the regime – and reluctantly helps them when they begin to get in trouble for subversive activities. Eventually, he's forced to take a stand...

The film tells us how university vacations changed our protagonist's life. The vacations took him home, as they did every year, but that year he was overcome by the vertigo of passion, culminating in a marriage proposal. Everything turns out to be ephemeral, misleading, where the betrayal of his closest friend may, after all, stem solely from his characteristic recklessness. But the reasons don't matter, what matters are the actions and their interpretation by each of the characters, which lead to the supreme act of love... and revenge.

Beiras, 19th century. The rapturous fatalism and the love tragedy between Teresa de Albuquerque and Simão Botelho, who survives the intolerant dispute between their noble families. Emphasis on Baltazar Coutinho’s (Teresa’s cousin and suitor) lethal rivalry, on blacksmith João da Cruz’ unconditional protection, and on Simão’s submissive adoration for his daughter Mariana…

A story about doomed love between two people from different worlds and the impact in their lives.

The fatalism caught up and the amorous tragedy between Teresa de Albuquerque and Simão Botelho, who survives the intolerant litigation of her noble families.

The story of the adventures, in the twilight of the eighteenth century, of a singular couple formed by a little orphan with mysterious origins and his young Italian nurse of a similarly uncertain birth. They lead us in their wake, from Rome to Paris, from Lisbon to London, from Parma to Venice. Always followed in the shadows, for obscure reasons, by a suspicious-looking Calabrian and a troubling cardinal, they make us explore the dark intrigues of the Vatican, the pangs of a fatal passion, a gruesome duel, banter at the court of Versailles and the convulsions of the French Revolution.