The film opens with Wilson Souza Neto, Rodrigo Santoro, reading a letter from his son Neto, Rodrigo Santoro, in which Neto expresses contempt for his father. This sharp message kicks off a flashback that follows Neto, a São Paulo teenager, as he negotiates a difficult bond with his father and his mother, Meire Souza. The story threads through a life that feels both sheltered and stormy, showing how family pressure, social expectations, and personal hunger pull Neto in conflicting directions.
One day, Neto travels with his friend Lobo, Gustavo Machado, to Santos without telling his parents. They visit an apartment where they swim and eat, and Neto witnesses a troubling moment when Lobo suggests they reciprocate for the food by letting the men there caress them. Later, alone in downtown, Neto begs for money and is helped by a woman named Leninha, Valéria Alencar. Leninha invites him home to share a meal with friends, and Neto and Leninha have sex. The day ends with a sudden turn when Neto is arrested for graffiti; his parents come to pick him up at the police station.
The following day, Neto’s father finds a marijuana cigarette in his jacket, and Neto’s sister advises his parents to send him to a mental institution. Wilson tricks Neto and whisks him away to a hospital where he is forcibly admitted without a proper examination. Neto is sedated by a nurse before receiving a diagnosis from Dr. Cintra, Altair Lima. When he awakens, Neto encounters Ceará, a hyperactive resident, and discovers the hospital is rundown and negligent. He also meets Rogério, an injectable drug user detained by his family, Caco Ciocler, who tells him that escaping is nearly impossible and that he could be drugged with haloperidol if he tries. Rogério warns Neto not to take the medications administered by nurses, since they serve to “make patients look healthier.”
Meanwhile, Cintra explains that if necessary he can admit more people—mostly homeless—to avoid losing government subsidies. Over time, Neto’s parents and sister visit, and they are misled by the doctor, who claims Neto will need months of treatment. Neto begs his parents to take him home, but they refuse. A later escape attempt leads to electroshock treatment, and a few days later his father visits again, telling Neto that he and Meire miss him; Neto asks to leave, and Wilson helps him depart from the clinic. Back home, Neto’s mother asks whether he wants to return to school or work as a salesman, and he chooses work. The life of Neto grows more complicated when the mother of a friend forbids him from visiting, and Neto discovers Leninha is married.
Seeking relief, Neto attends a party where he mixes Coca-Cola with cachaça. Drunk, he carries his friend Bel, Talita Castro, to the bathroom and they share a kiss, but the night ends in chaos as he destroys the venue. The police take him to another psychiatric hospital, where the tension with the staff escalates.
In this new institution, Neto angers the nurse Ivan, Jairo Mattos, after reporting to the hospital’s supervisor that the nurse overreacted while trying to calm a patient. The nurse’s resentment grows when Neto pretends to take a pill, and he is injected with medication. That night, Neto, after manipulating a nurse, convinces inmate Bil, Marcos Cesana, to set fire to a stock of drugs. When Ivan discovers this, Neto is placed in solitary confinement. After release, Neto writes a letter to his father and silently passes it to him during a visit. Refusing to have his hair cut, he is locked in solitary again, but he later sets a small fire and is rescued by the nurses. Reading the letter, Wilson takes Neto away from the clinic, and the film ends with Wilson and Neto sitting side-by-side on a curb, Wilson quietly crying as the credits roll.
