To defend the humble Soró Sereno in a traffic accident, the mysterious Ciro Cerqueira, a bus driver, ends up getting involved with the traditional italian family of Mamma Vittoria Cantarelli, owner of a chain of canteens in which he starts to work as an executive, and is torn between the love of the matriarch's granddaughters, the responsible Luísa and the seductive Bruna, a woman who spares no effort to get what she wants.

In the tiny poor town of Asa Branca, in the middle of Brazilian Northeast, Roque Santeiro is worshiped as a saint. He was supposedly killed by a bandit, 18 years ago, trying to save the local church. After his disappearance, local leaderships such as landowner Sinhozinho Malta and mayor Florindo, took profit on that to control the humble population. They even make up a widow, Porcina, who should have married Roque secretly before his death. What they don't expect is that Roque is alive, and he's back to, allegedly, "save his people". Now Malta, Florindo, Porcina, and others must hold him down and explain the "truth" to their commoners, in a desperate attempt to save their own bottoms. Meanwhile, mysterious facts surround Asa Branca, such as a Werewolf, a film crew who are trying to shoot a movie about Roque's story, and violent murderers.