In São Paulo, the greedy Ms. Ismênia is the owner of a boardinghouse strictly for women. Ismênia only thinks in money and has a crush on the gigolo Roberto. She runs the hostel with rigid rules and helped by the servant Manuela that affectionately treats the girls like her nieces and is called by them "aunt". On the day that the troublemaker Lurdinha leaves the boardinghouse to return to the house of her parents, Ismênia receives Geni, who is the daughter of her old friend Margarida and has just arrived from São Geraldo expecting to have a better life in São Paulo. Along the days, Geni befriends the other girls and leans a little about their personal dramas and dreams. Clara has come from Blumenau and is pregnant. The grocery worker Mané has an unrequited love for her, but she likes him as a friend only. Mirna is the samba dancer of a night-club. Teresa is a reckless young woman that dates Davi. Eneida is a traumatized woman that was raped by two black guys and now she can not have sex with her boyfriend Flávio. When Teresa takes Clara to the abortionist Elza, Clara feels pains and loses blood, finally dying. Meanwhile a burglar breaks in the boardinghouse and steals the money of Ismênia and her guests.
—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil