Jurandir is a lowly employee of the Pernambuco textile industry. Days before retiring as head of security at a weaving factory in the interior of Pernambuco, he undertakes a trip to Recife to settle a labor claim. The journey proves a nightmare; for no apparent reason, he sets the company car on fire and loses control of his actions. Two months later he is interned in a psychiatric clinic in the upper city of Olinda. At the request of Dr. Enio, he begins to write down his dreams, which intertwine with past events, stories of his youth, his opinions and his routine as a clinic patient. Through the things Jurandir sees, tells and even what he attempts to hide, the reader becomes aware of the tragedies afflicting his life: an accident in his youth that left him crippled, the fragility of friendships, betrayal and crisis in his marriage, and the fatal outcome of his only son. With the help of a nurse and an intern, he tries to accept the past and live with the precariousness of the present.