A docufiction film about the fall of Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, widely known as Lampião – the mythical bandit leader from the Brazilian northeast who fought the local power and put his name in history.
In the time of the "cangaceiros" in the badlands of the Northeast of Brazil, the cruel Captain Galdino Ferreira and his band abduct the schoolteacher Olívia, expecting to receive a ransom for her.
On the day of Pedro Boiadeiro's wedding, a band of cangaceiros who survived the Angicos massacre invade his home, then proceed to beat him up, and abuse and murder his wife.
A married couple, after a life time of work and bringing up a family, retire and awaken to the fast changing world around them, the habitual nature of their relationship, and what they have left.
Adapted from the novel Die Döppelgänger by Theodor Storm, this black-and-white drama tells the tragic story of a war veteran who, in 1860, returns to his home in Schleswig Holstein after serving a term for robbery.