Áurea's domineering husband, Vasco (Ruy Guerra), has dragged them from the civilized climes of the state capital to the middle of nowhere to build on the land he bought. He's content to scream at whomever and throw his pregnant wife around. Convinced this real estate is prosperous and with no apparent regard for who perishes while he prospers, he's like something out of a Werner Herzog picture, living in foolish defiance of nature.
But one morning, Dona Maria awakes to discover that everyone in camp has run off, fearing for their lives and leaving the two women and this crazy man to fend for themselves. Wait, strike that. Part of the unfinished home collapses on Vasco, and the two women promptly bury him and set out for what appears to be the least possible walk home ever filmed. Montenegro, in black, is appropriately dressed for a funeral. But sensing doom, they about- face and return to the house, which isn't far from the ocean and will be partially swallowed by the desert as the years pass.
And pass they do! Suddenly, Áurea's unborn child is a 10-year-old, also named Maria, but the passing decades have done little to lessen Áurea's hunger to return to more stable ground. Despite Maria's objections, she trades their valuables for whatever will get them somewhere else, even daring to leave to the house to Massu (Seu Jorge), the resourceful salt dealer who lives with a nearby colony of fugitive slaves and whose advice and assistance are the only reasons Áurea and Maria remain alive for the first few months.
