Our tale begins in the dusty, timeless provinces of Brazil's picturesque northeast. Dolores, not the most youthful or beauteous flower in God's garden but a willful and ebullient spirit, is abandoned at the altar. Barefoot and pregnant, she storms off in search of a husband only to return solo three years later, son in tow, for her mother's burial. When a crusty old neighbor, Osias, offers to take her hand, she accepts in a gesture of pure pragmatism. But within a short while, she finds herself miserable, pregnant, and enslaved to the unaffectionate brute. Slowly, Dolores discovers the resolve to seize life on her own terms and, through an intricate series of partnerings and hammock hoppings, manages to satisfy her every whim and fancy and successfully meld the perfect man.