Andre is 20 years old and has never finished high school. He is a photocopier operator at J. Gomide bookstore and stationer's, in the Fourth District, a working class neighborhood in Porto Alegre, south Brazil. He lives with his mother. He likes drawing and he likes Sílvia. Andre desperately needs $38. Sílvia is 18. She goes to night school and during the day she is a shop assistant in a women's clothes store. She lives with her father, she likes reading and is not too crazy about figs. Sílvia has a date at the top of the Corcovado mountain, in Rio, and she cannot miss it. Marines works at the bookstore with Andre. Cardoso will do anything for her. And, Marines does anything she wants with him. Almost anything. Andre needs $38 to buy a chenille dressing gown and to save Sílvia's life. Andre thinks up many plans to make money. And, they all work out. And so, his problems begin.