Julio (Rui Gomes), aged nineteen, has just left the provinces to settle down in the outskirts of Lisbon. He lives there in a poor area with his uncle Afonso (Paulo Renato) and starts working as an apprentice shoemaker. At the shop, he gets to know Ilda (Isabel Ruth), a young housemaid and regular customer. Ilda is pretty, joyful and modern and Julio falls for her. The two young people, although very different from each other, embark on an idyll...