Screenwriter Milo Noirlac is dying. He lies in the dark of his hospital room, voices from Milo's past and present - real and imagined - swirl about his head, each taking on the rhythm of his favourite Brazilian fight-dance, the capoiera. Seated next to him, Milo's partner, bumptious director Paul Schwartz, coaxes Milo through his life story, from the abuse he suffered as a foster child to his lost heritage - his great-grandfather's ostentatious wealth. As Milo narrates, his story becomes the couple's final screenplay, the movie that will be their masterpiece.