Despite the subject matter, this is not a perverse film. It never takes the easy route into a raunchy sex romp, nor does it judge the characters. She laughs, waits a day, and they are married. When Osias wants to cut the wedding party short because the noise is keeping his goats awake, she smiles, chooses a dancing partner and celebrates on her own terms. So goes life in this small town in the northeast of Brazil.
Life is simple and hard.
There's no waiting around for a handsome, young Prince Charming. But love, even the quick physical kind, is taken when it's found. No questions asked, but the truth is known. She has given her husband a son, and that's what counts. Broken down by her life of poverty, she eventually gives her oldest son to the nameless colonel who fathered him in hopes of a better life for the boy.