In colonial Brazil, boy is sent to live with some parents in a sugarcane plantation, after losing his mother. His adaptation will be difficult and painful. A young boy goes to live with his grandfather on a Brazilian plantation after his mother dies. Haunted by the memories of her violent death, the boy slowly adapts to his new surroundings until death, marriage, and the passage of time breaks up the family. Only when the boy is old enough to experience his first love does he leave to attend a city school.