José Alcántara

A timid magazine photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams embarks on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing.

About how the British broke the Brazilian monopoly on natural rubber. The storyline suggests a complex relation between adventure, military conquest and imperialism.

Tomson, a financial adviser, is called to the aid of the country of Sylvania by the Grand Duke Constantino, known as "Tino." Tomson refuses to aid Tino until the Duke's son Alexis is married. However, Alexis, a romantic, is not interested in the blue-blooded types that his father has selected for him. Instead he wants fate to intercede. Upon learning this, Tomson plans a wife-hunting trip to Paris, "the beauty mart of the world."