
Perched just above the breathtaking Ipanema beach in Rio lies the Cantagalo slum. Each day, waves of Cantagalo inhabitants descend the hillside, blending into the city as part of the unseen working class that cleans homes, staffs restaurants, and sells snacks along the picturesque, sunlit coastline. Among them is young Dé (Thiago Martins), who resides with his mother Bernadette (Cyria Coentro) in a small Cantagalo apartment, earning a living by selling hot dogs on the beach to pay the rent. Dé’s brother Beto was killed when Dé was a child, and his adopted brother Carlão (Rocco Pitanga) is imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. One day, while on the job at the beach, Dé encounters Nina (Vitória Frate), the sole daughter of a prosperous lawyer named Evandro (Paulo César Grande). Evandro is displeased to learn that his daughter is romantically involved with someone from a lower social class. How…