The story of a poor woman living in the backwoods of Brazil and working as a maid. One day she is unfairly fired from the house where she was working and goes to the big city, facing a cruel and hostile world, working in factories, bars and bordellos. In Rio Verde, a country town on North of Minas Gerais, the naive Estela (Maria Sílvia) is a poor woman working as a maid in the house of an abusive family. She is fired after a quarrel, and while walking on the road, she meets the truck driver and pimp Julio, who invites her to stay with his sister at her place. Once there, he sends Estela to work and live in the local whorehouse. Emilia, the owner of the brothel, changes her name to Janete, and she has sex with the poetic journalist Zeca. She travels with him to the country to visit her parents, and Zeca falls in love for her. Later, Zeca tries to beat a Janete's costumer, and is killed. Estela leaves the whorehouse to work in a factory, but her life does not change much. When she meets with Júlio by chance, she moves to the big city of Belo Horizonte.