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.

The search for a successor provokes the beginning of a clash between two young and talented executives of his group: Daniel Bastos, a lad of simple origins and excellent character, who is not only handsome and charming, but also intelligent and skilled, and Olavo Novaes, an ambitious and unscrupulous man who is ready to fight for the position, at any cost. To fight against Olavo‘s treacherous plans, Daniel will have the help of the sweet and sensitive Paula, a young lady raised as an only child who founds, on the eve of her mother‘s death, that she is adopted and has a family. What Paula does not know is that she has an identical twin sister, the wicked Taís, who is as ambitious and unscrupulous as the man who becomes her main ally, Olavo Novaes. Antenor, for his part, decides on having an heir when he meets the headstrong and honest Lúcia, a woman who will make this cold businessman find true love is and a real reason to live.

After suffering a plane crash, Leo receives a blood transfusion and, some time later, discovers that he ended up contracting the AIDS virus. Desperate, he does his best to find out the identity of the bearer of the blood he received, and suffers from the prejudice of friends and people close to him.