André is 20 years old and has never finished high school. He is a photocopier operator at J. Gomide bookstore and stationer's, in the Fourth District, a working class neighborhood in Porto Alegre, south of Brazil. He lives with his mother. He likes drawing and he likes Sílvia. André desperately needs $38. Sílvia is 18. She goes to night school and during the day she is a shop assistant in a women's clothes store. She lives with her father, she likes reading and is not too crazy about figs. Sílvia has a date at the top of the Corcovado mountain, in Rio, and she cannot miss it. Marinês works at the bookstore with André. She dates, but not so regularly, a German guy who lives in Holland. Marinês looks really good in dresses she cannot afford to buy. Cardoso will do anything for her. And Marinês does anything she wants with him. Almost anything. Cardoso quit smoking. Two days ago, at Marinês' request. He does not even miss it that much. Only sometimes, after lunch. That cigarrette. If you don't smoke, you have no idea what it means, that cigarette after lunch. André needs $38 to buy a chenille dressing gown and to save Sílvias's life. André thinks up many plans to make money. And they all work out.And so his problems began.