Gertrudes (Norma Bengell) is a middle aged lady who rents two of the rooms in her spacious upper middle class apartment (breakfast and plenty of companionship included) to two youngish women: the sensual thirty-something Madalena, and the apparently tormented twenty-something Lucia. Madalena is realistic - a fun-loving, sexually active night owl - who contrasts with Lucia, a dreamer and somewhat of a substitute daughter for the lonely landlady Gertrudes. This Brazilian drama chronicles the lives between three female roommates sharing an apartment in Vitoria, Brazil. Former music teacher Gertrudes is hiding from the world after her lover spurns her. Magdalena is a free spirit. By day she works in a mental hospital; at night she is out in search of men. Lucia is the third, and most troubled roommate. To get Gertrudes to mother her, Lucia pretends she is mentally ill. Her ploy works and she and the older woman frequently get involved in mother/daughter games.