Renato is a widower, in his mid-forties, living with his daughter Cris and his sister-in-law Estela, a possessive woman with an unhealthy fascination for him. But he meets the psychologist Teka and falls in love with her. Estela, mad with jealousy, seeks revenge, and even manages to put Cris against her own father. Also, when her sister Eunice, a neurotic widow with psychological problems (many of them caused by Estela) meets Nélio and the two start a romance, Estela tries to set them apart.