It's Christmas Eve and country boy Nogueira wants to see the Missa do Galo ("Rooster's Mass) while he stays on his uncle house located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's capital back in the late 1890's. After a nice dinner with family and a friend of the family, he is left alone waiting for the midnight hour just to see the mass, while his uncle is out - possibly having an affair with another woman - and everyone else is sleeping. He spends the night reading a book. Conceição is the uncle's wife and after a sleepless night she stays with the young boy talking about all sorts of things. The long night provides many surprises for both of them.