Eunice works for a rich family in a building called The Golden Plate, in an unnamed city in contemporary Brazil. She lives with her daughter Mabel in a small room assigned to them. Eunice does the best that she can, though with a child and ailing mother both dependent solely on her, Eunice's life is a series of limitations. As Mabel grows up, her dissatisfaction with the forced smallness of their world becomes difficult to bear, and she is driven to work towards new possibilities for herself. But when tragedy strikes, and a little boy dies, both women must decide whether to speak out about the injustices they have spent so long orbiting.