Rio de Janeiro, 1997. Malu, a 50-year-old unemployed and bipolar actress, lives in a precarious house in a favela close to the sea. Dreaming of her glorious past in the theater, she finds herself obliged to house her mother, Lili, a deeply conservative old lady, who has nowhere else to live.
The violent fights between the two are mitigated with the arrival of Joana, Malu's daughter, who has not seen her mother in years. A moment of harmony reigns in the house, but Malu's madness intensifies when Joana reveals her decision to do work in television, something Malu despises. Mother and daughter break up, and Joana promises not to return until Malu seeks psychiatric help.
In solitude, Malu tries to reconnect with Lili, but it doesn't work and after a complicated episode Malu expels Lili for her house.
A few years later, living in complete loneliness and abandonment, Malu develops severe neurological conditions, and Joana finally returns to care for her mother. They discover that Malu has little time left to live, her brain is deteriorating by the day. Joana decides to take Malu to São Paulo, to look after her during the last months of her life. The imminence of death brings an unexpected lightness to their mother-daughter relationship. On the road to São Paulo, already reconciled with her daughter, talking about Brazil's fragile and young democracy.