A Vingança dos Doze

Inspired by the life of one of the most famous policemen in the history of Brazil: detective Perpétuo de Freitas, immortalized in the annals of Brazilian criminal history for relentlessly pursuing and without the slightest assistance of the Rio police force one of the most wanted criminals in the country.

In the early 17th century, the Dutch have occupied Bom Jesus village, the last native stronghold in the Pernambuco captaincy. An adventurer, João Fernandes Vieira, sees himself in the middle of a conflict, torn between joining his friend Mauricio de Nassau alongside the ruling Dutch and siding with his lover Ana Paes in the fight to free his homeland.

A gang of bandits led by Faustão intervene in a fight between two members of rival families, the Pereiras and the Araújos. Henrique Pereira, son of Colonel Pereira, is wounded in an ambush. Faustão rescues him and demands the father to pay a ransom in exchange for the life of his son. The bandit makes it clear to Henrique that he is not a prisoner and that he is only obeying the law of the backlands. Lucena, a henchman working for the Araújos, finds Faustão and offers twice the amount being asked to the colonel in order to take Henrique as a prisoner, but the bandit refuses the offer. Colonel Henrique pays the ransom, but the son refuses to return home, even being aware of the feud between his family and the Araújos. The young man chooses to join the gang.

In 1910, in the State of Paraíba, Brazil, a man is expelled from his own land by the ruthless colonel who owns the sugar mill. He asks some outlaws to help him retrieve his land.

Five segments about the hardships faced by people living in slums on hills in Rio de Janeiro.

A few weeks before Carnival, slum boys organize huntings for stray cats, whose leather can be used in Samba percussion instruments, like the Tamborim, a small drum.

The story of Paulo Honório, a poor ploughman who becomes a rich farmer. Obsessed by his desire to get even richer, he doesn't pay much attention to his wife, Madalena, a teacher who reacts against his tyrannical ways.

Chronicles the life of a 17 year-old girl living in the upper-class Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood of Ipanema. Márcia lives a life of parties and spend her days among bohemians, musicians and intellectuals. While seeming happy in the outside, she's extremely anguished inside. Based on the famous song by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes.