We accompany a rich and traditional family that faces a serious crisis when it sees the extensive orchard that supports it in ruins. Desperate to maintain the status quo, Major and D. Lúcia find salvation in Delgado, a wealthy industrialist from the North who has just arrived in the village. Enticing him with the prospect of a rich dowry, they try to convince him to court Cilinha, the couple's innocent and lunatic daughter. But Delgado, too, is a bankrupt man looking to pull off the coup.