It is the spring of 1974, a period of mounting political tension in Portugal. Luís da Silva, an unemployed university graduate and reluctant virgin, loiters aimlessly about the streets and beaches of an Algarve fishing village waiting for life to happen. Luís longs for the day when Portugal's repressive dictatorship will be overthrown and his country restored to its proper place in the world. Then, like an apparition, the sensuous and uninhibited Luisa Barbos, a gypsy princess, strides out of the sea, and Luís's adventures begin in earnest. Before all is resolved, Portugal is in a state of turmoil and so are the hearts of the two young lovers.