Ossos

Tina, a young mother, lives in a cramped shanty in the Fontainhas district with her unnamed deadbeat partner and a newborn. The household is strained and Tina quietly battles despair while trying to care for the baby.

One afternoon the father leaves to search for food at a local market and later takes meals from a nearby diner. He returns to their meager home, illustrating the constant hunger and neglect surrounding the family.

That night Tina wanders the street in distress and contemplates ending her life. She places a decompressed gas cylinder beside herself and the baby, then drags the father into a nearby room to be near them.

The next morning Tina leaves the child with the father. The father, hungry after days without food, begs for scraps on the street while holding the baby, and a woman named Eduarda feeds them a sandwich and milk.

The baby is taken to the hospital for immediate care. A nurse approaches the father and recommends her colleague Eduarda as a pediatrician.

That night at the hospital Eduarda informs him the baby is quite ill and that a pediatrician will arrive the next day to run medical tests. The father steps outside to smoke and then returns to Eduarda's apartment where she feeds him a meal.

The next morning, Tina stays with Clotilde, while Eduarda takes the baby to her own apartment and becomes its new caregiver. The father is left to coordinate the care and is told Tina does not seem to care about motherhood.

Clotilde looks after Tina. The father returns and briefly chats with Clotilde, and he is given custody of the child again.

Eduarda hires Clotilde as a housemaid five days a week. That night, Tina searches for Clotilde but learns she now works for Eduarda after being approached by her husband.

Sometime later, Tina goes to Eduarda's apartment and finds no one there, only a list of cleaning instructions for Clotilde. Hours later Eduarda returns and finds Tina unconscious in the kitchen from another suicide attempt; Tina survives and Eduarda offers her a place to stay.

Eduarda visits Tina's apartment and they share a rare moment of bonding while smoking together. Clotilde cleans Eduarda's apartment, then returns to Tina's place for a final moment before Tina shuts her door.