On the verge of being expelled from his home for not paying his debts, a government employee is mistaken for an inspector and decides to use that as an advantage.
The tragedy of a woman who - after seven years of vain searches - gave up hope of finding her husband, a knight lost in battle in Marroc with Sebastião, king of Portugal. She marries, has a daughter by her second husband, and endures the silent reproach of an aid, Telmo Pais, the only who kept his hope that his master shall return, as well as the king... One day, a mysterious pilgrim arrives at the mansion.
To get away from the boredom of the city, Henrique de Souzelas visits his aunt Doroteia, in a picturesque village in the North, where he becomes attracted to his young, beautiful cousin Madalena.
The great fadista, Amelia Rodrigues, made her screen debut in Capas Negras, which took its name from the black capes worn by the students in the university city of Coimbra, where the film is set. The action begins in a tavern where a group of former students are reminiscing about their time at the university. One of the students, Jose Duarte then breaks into song, performing an impromptu fado in the local Coimbra style. The tavern owner's niece, the aptly named Maria Lisboa promptly retaliates with a fado of the Lisbon variety. The melodramatic plot then centers on the frustrated romance between these two characters, and the soundtrack is essentially a musical duel between these two different styles of Portugal's national song.
The ill-conceived loves of Rosa, a modest seamstress, and Fernando a doctor, leaving in the shadow the fateful passion of António (a liberal) for the young woman.
