Through some streets in Rio de Janeiro, a young woman is followed by a stranger, and with each step she takes, his footsteps grow louder. She desperately tries to be more agile, but he seems unyielding. His thirst for her in that moment is uncontrollable.
She runs with her bag slung over her shoulder, and he chases after her, like a leopard chasing its prey. Until suddenly, she stumbles and falls to the ground, and he slows his pace, now walking slowly toward her. Fragile and insecure, she becomes another innocent victim of such a banal crime.
And she begins to scream for help when he pulls out a revolver. But her screams are not enough to resolve the risky and tense situation immediately.
The criminal approaches her and begins preparing to sexually assault her. Tears begin to well in the young woman's eyes.
Two days later…
"Have you read today's newspaper?" Ingrid says to her daughter Jessica, who's drinking her morning coffee.
"What happened this time, Mom?" the young woman asks, immediately grabbing the newspaper.
"Another young woman has been sexually assaulted. You know what that means, right? Rio de Janeiro has changed and is increasingly dangerous."
"And how are you, Mom! But this is everywhere. Not just in Rio, and you know it perfectly well."
"I worry about you, daughter. I'm afraid something might happen to you on these streets."
"Mom, I know you always like to protect me, but I can't stay inside all the time. I have my job, my studies, and I need to achieve my goals. Nothing bad will happen to me, okay!"
"You're my pride and joy, Jessica! I love you so much, you know that?"
"Oh, Mom! I love you too," the young woman says, hugging her tightly.
Seeing the scene, Amaury is surprised.
"Can I join in this hug?"
"Dad, come here!" — Jessica says, smiling, making Ingrid smile too.
—What's the celebration, huh? — Amaury asks.
— Just a hug. A hug that means how much you both mean to me. — the young woman replies, wiping the smiles from both their faces.
Meanwhile, Gracindo is organizing the sweets in his bakery display when his wife, Bárbara, arrives and asks about their son, Edmílson.
"He must have gone to school, amore mio," Gracindo replies.
"So early? Hmmm. There's something wrong with that porridge!"
"It's about to start, woman!"
"When Edmílson leaves this early, something's wrong. I know our son very well."
"Do you think he didn't go to school?"
"I don't know. I just know he must be up to something."
"Suspicious woman!" Gracindo says, returning to his work.
"I'll be damned if he didn't go looking for that criminal."
"Who? Eleonora? Our son doesn't want to know about her anymore."
"That's what you think. He hasn't forgotten her. I can feel it."
"Well, he won't tell me anything about it." "If I find out he's seeing that shameless woman, I'll take action. That woman only came into my son's life to ruin his future."
"Edmílson has learned his lesson, amore mio. He won't see that woman again."
"Good!" the woman says grumpily. "Otherwise, he'll get a good beating from me."
Gracindo bursts out laughing at that, and Bárbara frowns.
"And I'll beat you too!" she retorts.
And Edmílson isn't at school, after all. He's at Eleonora's house, feeling happy.
"If your mother finds out you're skipping school to stay at my house, she'll kill me," Eleonora says, lying next to her on the bed.
"Relax! She won't find out. Aren't you enjoying this moment?"
"Of course I am, my love. I like it when you come to visit."
"I'll visit you often."
"That's great!" I just hope I don't bring trouble to your family since your parents hate me.
"Don't worry! They have no idea I found you again," the boy says, kissing her on the lips.
Danilo falls asleep in Physics class and is woken up by Professor Juca. The class smiles at his sleepy face.
"Very well, Mr. Danilo, while everyone is paying attention in class, you're taking one of those naps."
"Oh, Professor, sorry!"
"No excuses. What are Newton's three laws known as?"
"Newton's three laws?" he asks, confused, and then says, "Professor, it would be the first, second, and third."
"Funny. Hurry up! Tell me the three answers."
"I don't know."
"Of course you don't know. You slept through the whole class. I just explained it in class." He turns to a student and says, "Tell me the answers!"
The confident student replies,
"Professor, the first law is known as the law of inertia; the second, the fundamental principle of dynamics; and the third, the law of action and reaction." She winks at Danilo, who makes a face that he doesn't like it.
"Bravo!" That's exactly it! Congratulations! He turns back to Danilo. "Did you see what a dedicated student we have in class?"
Danilo ignores the teacher's comment, and the student smiles confidently.
"As for you, sir, you better start paying attention in class because on test day, I won't make it easy. Either you get an A or I'll give you a big zero so your parents can see how little you care about studying."
The bell rings, and the teacher dismisses the class.
Danilo leaves the room, carrying his backpack angrily, and Junior follows him, mocking him.
"Are you going to tease me until I get home?"
"Dude, you're crazy! How can you sleep in class?" Hahahahah," he smiles widely.
"I don't like Physics, okay! I'm not a nerd like you, always with your face in a book."
"Wow! What bug poked you now? Problems at home?"
"Screw my problems. You have nothing to do with this."
"Ohh!" You're not going to criticize me now, are you? I'm just messing around. Relax!
"I'm tired of everything. I'm going to pack my things and leave for a place where no one knows me."
"And you're going to forget about your friends here? Wow! You really underestimated me!"
"I'm sick of everyone, including you, who's always hanging around me, acting all nice, but in reality, you're always talking about me behind my back."
"Are you crazy? I'm not talking about you, okay!"
"I know." Admit it to yourself: you've always been jealous of me."
"Why are you saying this? Just because I wanted to sleep with your girl. I did intend to take her to my bed, but I haven't done it yet because I'm not a jerk."
"Son of a bitch!"
He threatens to punch him in the face, but doesn't.
"That's right, Danilo! You've always had the most beautiful girls at your feet and never appreciated them. I'm different from you." If one of them stays with me, I'll get it.
"Listen here! If you get close to Victoria, you'll have to deal with me, understand?"
"What are you going to do, Danilo? Are you going to hit me?"
"I'll break your face."
"Appreciate Victoria, then, bro. If you don't, I'll steal it from you!"
"Don't provoke me, boy! You don't know what I'm capable of."
"Yes, I do. I know you very well. Oh, Danilo, you think the world revolves only around you, don't you? I feel so sorry for you!"
He walks away, leaving the boy irritated.
The director watches the scene and remains silent.
Jéssica arrives at Suzane's house and the two decide to talk in the living room. She was chatting with a guy on a dating app, and the young woman, curious, decides to ask who the guy in the photo is, seeing him on the screen. Suzane decides to introduce the app to her friend.
"Online dating?" Jéssica asks.
"Yeah, friend! I'm in that mood too." — she says, smiling.
—Hmmmm... I don't really believe in that. I think it's silly to try to meet someone online. At least I've never cared about it.
—Friend, you should try it. This chat is really good. I've made some good friends through it. I'll explain how it works.
She begins to give Jessica some tips, and she pays attention to everything.
A few minutes later, Jessica finds the chat interesting and is encouraged by her friend to sign up for the app.
Danilo goes to his room and turns on his laptop. Browsing the search engine, he finds an ad for a very popular dating app, highly reviewed and positively reviewed. Curious, he opens his phone and searches for the app. As soon as it downloads, he signs up. He decides to join the same online dating chat when his younger brother, Jordan, arrives.
"What are you doing here, prego?" Danilo asks.
"I came to see if you have any money to get me ready. I need to go to the basketball game with my friends."
"Have you asked our dad?"
"He said you have some."
"Always, right? Hold on, I'll take a look."
He steps away from the laptop when the boy glances over.
"What is this?" he asks.
"Ohh! This is for adults. Here's the money. Get out of here!"
"Geez, you're not even going to tell me what it is."
"Come on, boy! Go back to your game and leave me alone." The boy leaves the room angrily, and Danilo goes back to typing on his laptop.
Suddenly, a beep alerts him of a message, and Jessica, who was already in her room and on her bed, decides to check.
"Who could it be, huh? Well, I'll answer."
She thinks.
And she types "Hi." And then "How are you?"
And so the game of questions and answers begins. One answers the other one after the other. Until the next question: "Single?"
Jessica answers yes, and Danilo says the same.
A smile spreads across both their faces.
"Can we arrange a date?"
Now she remains silent, unsure of what to say.
But suddenly, her fingers type the following letters that correspond to the word "Yes."
"That's great! I'm glad you want to meet me."
"Can I see you on video call?"
Jessica is hesitant and declines the invitation. Danilo, in turn, is upset, but understands. Days pass, and the conversation between them becomes incredibly good. When Danilo doesn't invite her to chat, she takes the initiative. And vice versa. The two exchange life experiences, advice, sometimes joke around, talk about dreams, even the country's politics. And so each knows the other's life. And so the friendship between them grows.
"Friend, you're in love!" Suzane says to Jessica, who is surprised.
"What's up! I barely know him," Jessica says.
"But you like him. I can see it in your eyes, friend!" Suzane says, smiling. "Did you see how the chat helped you?"
"Only you, right? But I'll confess: I did like him. He seems like a nice person."
"Symptoms of love, Jessica!"
"Stop it! Danilo is just a friend, and the distance between us really gets in the way."
"Do you think distance gets in the way of two people loving each other?"
"I do. We live far away from each other. It won't work, you know."
"There's no distance in love, Jessica. If you're attached to each other and really want something serious, distance won't get in the way at all. Think about it!"
Jessica falls silent at Suzane's words.
Victoria visits Danilo at his house and they talk.
"You're different, man? What's wrong?"
"I'm not different. I'm still the same."
"You are different," she says. "May I know what's going on?"
"It's nothing, Victoria. It's just you."
"Well, okay then! Shall we go out tonight?"
"Where to?"
"I don't know, somewhere special where it's just the two of us."
"A motel?"
"Maybe. I even like the idea of spending the night with you."
"But I don't feel like going out anywhere tonight."
"And why?"
"I just don't feel like it."
"Are you sure you don't want to tell me anything?"
"Victoria, I just wanted to be alone."
"There's a woman in the place, right? Tell me her name?"
"Victoria, don't exaggerate! I haven't met anyone!"
"Danilo, you're acting weird and you don't even want to go out with me. Something's wrong, and I want to know, okay!" Who's the bitch stealing you from me?
Danilo has no way out.