In the Rio de Janeiro Central Station, the infamous pickpocket Mão Leve meets Ernestina—a Northeastern girl looking for a job—with whom he falls in love. Willing to conquer her, the thief decides to abandon his life of crime, but soon finds out it won't be easy.
During the inauguration of Brasília, Brazil's brand new capital city, singer and ballerina Gilda hides in a working-class night club to escape from an inconvenient millionaire who's trying to date her.
Two friends are looking for a quiet place where they can rest awhile. Soon they find the town they'd chosen to go is far from quiet. In fact, it's ruled by outlaws. And one of them is mistaken for the "Avenging Gunman", defender of the law.
The film narrates the adventures of the trickster Juca Moleza in the carnival while he has to deal with the consequences of the scams he applied to people of high society.
A man in charge of a publicity campaign for bananas decides to kidnap the Queen of 'Bananaland', a tropical island paradise, and take her to Rio, where she falls in love with a member of Carmen Miranda's backing ensemble, 'Bando da Lua'.
