The plot revolves around the romantic conflict involving four young people who have known each other since childhood. Antônio Mourão, an orphan raised by Father Ovídio, has two dreams in life: to graduate in Medicine – he has just passed the entrance exam – and to marry Rebeca, one of the daughters of his godfather, the Protestant pastor Bilac. Antônio and Rebeca end up separated thanks to the interference of Lívia, the youngest daughter of Pastor Bilac. Sensual and deceitful, she dreams of abandoning her life in São Tomás de Trás, working as a lacemaker and attending her father's church services, to live in the big city. She sees in Antônio a chance to fulfill her desire and, even knowing about the romance between the young man and her sister, she orchestrates a situation to seduce him and manages to get pregnant by him. The two are then forced to marry and move to the capital.