Jessica has little time to be a mother. It is on public transport - on the way between Nova Iguaçu and the South Zone of Rio - that she spends most of her time with her son Zeca. Young and black, Jéssica is always in a hurry: in addition to being a single mother, she is also a university student and intern at an advertising agency. Nothing comes easy for her. A former public school student, Zeca now has a scholarship to an elite school in Gávea, but he is no longer the happy, communicative child he once was.
Through clippings, the film draws a narrative line between the construction of racism in Brazil and the United States, having as base the European invasion of the continent, police violence, the genocide of the black people, the massacre of indigenous peoples, religious violence, the criminalization of funk music, structural racism in art and education, the importance of quota policy and the need urgent historical repair as a commitment by the Brazilian state to the black people.
The film is based on lyrics from the very famous Brazilian samba composer Adoniran Barbosa, following the aesthetics of his time. Notable facts and characters of his songs takes us through the story, a portrait of São Paulo city in the 50's, a place full of music, love stories and gentrification (poor people getting evicted from their places in order to build great buildings), subjects often explored in Adoniran's work, always with a good touch of humor. This way he became the 'poor people poet'.
Orfeu is a popular composer from a samba school. He lives in the favela and falls madly in love when he meets Euridice, a newcomer to the neighborhood. But the local drug boss Lucinho stands between them and will drastically change both their lives.
