 In 1941, Brazilian government was aligned with Nazi movement, in spite of being against the popular desire. In Lapa (Rio de Janeiro), the rascal, pimp and smuggler Max Overseas explores the cabaret singer and prostitute Margot (Elba Ramalho), the former mistress of the chief inspector Tigrão (Ney Latorraca). When the daughter of the cabaret owner Otto Struedel (Fábio Sabag), Ludmila Struedel (Claudia Ohana), leaves her boarding school and returns to her family, she proposes Max to be her husband and partner in a legal importation company of their own. But Margot and Tigrão do not accept the idea.