In the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, opulent patriarch Oswaldo Wallace rules over his mines with authority. His two sons, Severino and Ramires, are only a year apart in age but couldn't be more different: the first, a political leftist, becomes a journalist and then a writer, while the second supports the military exercising authoritarian power during the "Years of Lead" (anos de chumbo in Portuguese), from 1968-78.