 In Northeastern of Brazil, the father of the twelve years old illiterate Maria sells his daughter to Tadeu to be employed as a housemaid and have a better life. However, the girl is resold to the farmer Lourenço that deflowers her, and he gives the abused girl to his teenager son to have his first sexual experience. Then she is sent to a brothel in a gold field in Amazonas and explored his owner, the despicable Saraiva. When Maria escapes to Rio de Janeiro expecting a better life, she is explored by the cáften Vera.