Hedy Maia

Millionaire Roberto Albuquerque runs over Maria Cristina, and the two fall in love. But the young man's mother, Viridiana Albuquerque, disapproves of the relationship because the girl is poor. In the final chapters, already driven mad, Viridiana sets her own dress on fire.

The story, inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel of the same name – which fueled the abolitionist movement in the United States – depicts the conflict between enslaved American cotton planters and wealthy landowners in the South. The fight for freedom is led by Uncle Tom and his wife Chloe.