Sant'Ana do Agreste, a small village in the
Bahia region, is bubbling with anticipation as it prepares to
welcome back Tieta (Sonia Braga), a country girl returning
to her native village after an absence of 26 years. At 17, Tieta's
sexual indiscretions were denounced by her elder sister Perpétua
(Marilia Pera) and she was thrown out of the family home
by her father Zé Esteves (Chico Anysio).
Tieta returns as the rich and powerful widow
of a São Paolo industrialist. Since her departure, the
only contact she has had with her family has been through letters
sent from a P.O. Box in São Paolo. Carmô, the happiest
spinster in Sant'Ana and one-woman-post-office has also taken
careful note of money orders arriving to help Tieta's father,
sisters and nephews.
Tieta arrives accompanied by Leonora (Claudia
Abreu), a beautiful but sad girl whom she introduces as her
stepdaughter. Tieta is received with pomp and ceremony by the
family, inhabitants and politicians of the tiny village cut off
from time and space.
Tieta and Leonora's presence inspires an upheaval
in the life of Sant'Ana. Ascânio (Leon Goes), the
Town Hall's progressive secretary tries to persuade her to help
him bring electricity to the generator-powered village. Even the
mad mayor Dantas (André Torreta) and his wacky friends
who run the village from the billiard hall feel the impact of
her arrival.
Leonora and Ascânio become involved
in a platonic romance while Tieta embarks on a torrid relationship
with Cardo (Heitor Martinez Mello), her seminarist nephew
and son of the austere Perpétua, who goes on to have an
affair with Imaculada (Patricia França).
Tieta soon becomes the village's major benefactor
but the peace and quiet is shaken by the arrival of representatives
from Embrâtanio S.A. who intend to construct a highly polluting
titanium dioxide plant in Sant'Ana. In the midst of all the uproar,
the darkest secret of Tieta's life is revealed and she is forced
to leave Sant'Ana once again.
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