 While waiting in a bar for a boat to cross a river, a man tells the story of Javé, a small town in the country of Bahia doomed to be submerged by the waters of a hydroelectric dam. When the illiterate dwellers of Javé find that their village will be flooded, they decide to "scientifically" document the story of Javé to show the historical importance of the place and present motives to stop the construction of the hydroelectric. However, only the former postman and persona non-grata Antônio Biá (José Dumont), who used the intimacy of the villagers to save his job in the post office, can write, but the population assigns him to register in a book the report of the remembrances of the storytellers.