A quick drink in the buffet before going home. Freddie's nerves are taking a hammering lately; the economy is in dire trouble and who can blame a businessman for the occasional drink? His wife and mistress for a start.
15-year-old Dawn runs away from what she feels is an intolerable home life. In the big city, she ends up turning to prostitution when she is unable to get a job due to her age.
Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.
Letter carrier Eva is in her late twenties, unmarried and the mother of a twelve-year-old son. She falls in love with Jon, a bargeman who is unfortunately already engaged.
An extended dream sequence presents a biblical allegory about the creation, downfall and rebirth of humanity, told through a series of surrealistic vignettes and musical numbers.
Cornélio, an aged man and famous baritone, marries the young Angelica, who plans with her ex-boyfriend Bruno, to kill the husband with contaminated oysters, but she ends up the one who gets sick.