Irene lives on the countryside of Brazil trying to hold together her family as good as she can. Her husband Jairo earns a living burnin charcoal. When he is out of a job, he spends the little money they have on booze. The nine year old son, Jean, is a sweet boy who shares his bedroom with his grandfather Firmino who had a stroke and can’t walk or breath without his oxygen tank.

One day Juracy appears instead of the usual nurse to replace Firmino’s oxygen tank. Juracy proposes an idea to Irene: why not replace the old Firmino with someone who can help the family financially? In other words, Juracy proposed to euthanise Firmino and hire new ‘help’: Argentinian criminal Miguel who faked his own death to stay under the radar. Miguel is not a typical criminal, both charming and cranky, the family is fascinated by this new help.

In subtle ways the newcomer disrupts the family into chaos. Jairo has an affair with his neighbor and Irene becomes more confident and open, fascinated by the imposant new figure in her relatively boring life, and Jean admires Miguel’s criminal lifestyle.