A wealthy sugar mill owner, widowed and living with his only son, suffers from profound melancholy. To alleviate his suffering, he seeks entertainment in the form of any jerk willing to lend a hand. Among the many candidates his secretary presents to fill the "position", a certain "Penguin", who along with his sister "Picolé" lives on the favela hill under the protection of a kind Portuguese shopkeeper, completely pleases the "sovereign" of sugar. With "Penguin"'s entry into the court as the sugar king's "fool", great transformations take place in the home of the wealthy misanthrope.