After a sink full of soapy water empties through a gurgling drain, a finger appears from underneath: Zé, a plumber, is at work. Eva, the lady of the house, interrupts him wearing little but a smile. She coaxes him out and seduction begins, interrupted by the surprise arrival of her lover, Carlão, a gun-toting criminal. Zé hides under the sink, watching through the drain hole as Carlão gives Eva a valuable necklace and makes love to her. Carlão is called away abruptly on business only to have his enemy Zim arrive a minute later to claim the necklace. Zé's still under the sink observing as mayhem descends on the kitchen. Will it end with a bang or a whimper?

In 1983, little João Amaral Severo asks his father to go to the circus. His father, and army captain who had been recently widowed, refuses to take him under the pretext that the circus would draw his attention away from his studies. Ten years later João is a student in the Military College, and is tired of the harsh discipline imposed by his father and decides to join a travelling circus that stops in his hometown, Alcochete. From then on João, alone and free to live his life the way he wants, finds a world of magic, the love of Dolores (a young trapeze artist) and the family he never really had. Until a twist of fate turns João into a father...