A young physician coordinating the transfer of patients between state-run hospitals in the city of Rio de Janeiro struggles with a mystery: a patient goes missing one night and completely disappears from the system. As the doctor attempts to find out the truth, he slowly loses his sense of reality.
Based on Érico Verissimo's literary trilogy, The Time and the Wind follows 150 years of the Terra Cambará family and their opponents, the Amaral family. The struggles between the two families begin in the missions and lasts until the end of the 19th century. The film also features the period of formation of the state of Rio Grande do Sul and the dispute of territory between the Portuguese and Spanish crowns.
Two brothers develop a very close relationship as they are growing up in an idyllic and happy family. When they are young adults their relationship becomes very intimate, romantic, and sexual.